Bulge 16.01s alt

[Plain Ian]

Turn 46 German – south



A. The Fusileer (recon) Bn from 212th VGD assaults my disrupted 11th Tank Bn. I lose 1 tank and he loses 12 men and takes the hex. And of course I retreat to the hex that I don’t want to retreat to. I think there has been plenty of discussions in the Blitz on retreating so I’ll let it rest there......

B. The Somme in the south continues. Practically every piece of artillery he has in the south concentrates on the 2-12th Infantry. I think there was some ground fire as well, my eyes glazed over for a few minutes during the replay, so not all of the 100 losses were down to artillery...........
The losses for the 2-12th were entered into the Guinness Book of Records under the ‘Most artillery losses for one unit’ section. Unfortunately the ink was hardly dry before this record was superseded by a higher figure in the north at Elsenborn.

C. Pz Lehr infantry have reappeared along with another Bn of the 5th FJD.

D. A strong tank force of Pz lehr (Px V XX and StuG X) appeared fired at 10th Armd Infantry and then disappeared. A new force them moved up mainly infantry but with 3 company sized (X) tank formartions. (PzIV,PzV,StuG) and have stayed. 10th Armd pelted with ground fire and also some artillery....although god knows where this came from. 41 men were lost but the 10th is an A rated unit and Fatigue is only 42.

E. His mobile A/A unit pulled back after last turns losses.

Situation: I’m tempted to bring up each of my tank Bn’s (8th (B) 35th (B) 37th (A)) and have a go at his armour then pull back after firing once. 40 x M4’s firing is bound to take out 2 PzIV’s /StuG’s? Multiply that by 3 Tank Bn's. I might lose 1-2 tanks total from return fire. If the rest of his armour is in hex (?) however, I might end up losing out more if Return Fire is triggered. I guess I can try one attack and see.

I will have to pull out the 2-12th. Another attack and its red fatigue.
Not sure whether to abandon Brouch and the hex north of it completely and pull back, or hang in with armour. I suspect that if I pull back he won’t follow. He has hinted that he is looking for good defensive terrain. He has this now, its just that he doesn't want me sitting next to him!