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[Plain Ian]

Turn 72 2am 24th December Allied - Bastogne area 



My only area of concern here was at Bertogne where the 2-505th and 159th Eng were in danger of being cut off. The only solution was to pull them back. The 15th Pz Gr Bn which had assaulted last turn was well peppered with artillery, then fired at by the two Para Bn’s to its south west. This was costly as they received quite heavy return fire from his stack of 3 VG Bn’s (26th VGD). However the 15th Pz Gr Bn was probably disrupted and did not fire when my units pulled back. Hopefully it will stay disrupted for his turn so can't assault.....

 

However I guess he will still follow up and keep the pressure on here. The good news is the French are here. Vive la France! 1st and 2nd Lt Bn’s are arriving. 600 men and Morale C. They have the same stats as US Battalions.

 

I’ve got 4 Bn’s of 82nd paratroopers sitting idle south of Bertogne which I can use. Once daylight visibility is restored I’ll decided whether to move them north or not.

 

The other good news in this area is that the 53rd Welsh have arrived and will relieve the 101st. A fine bunch of moustachioed men who will do a good job I hope holding the line and possibly advancing? They have 6 x C Morale Bn’s and 3 x B Morale Bn’s plus a B Morale MG Bn. Not the best Soft attack values but pretty good Hard attack values. (why?) Assault values are not great but if you only assault disrupted units then it doesn’t really matter........

Oh and 72 x 24 pounders will be useful for softening up the Fuhrer Begleit Bde.

 

The 101st will move south and come under VIII Corps.

 

At Nadrin I pull back and got into cover. The 1-505th (A morale) night disrupted so even the best units can fail. When daylight comes this will be an artillery war again, and with the bridge down I’m not going to get reinforcements quickly into this area. The 35th Engineers did move successfuly adjacent to the blown bridge so will start building a new one next turn.


It does look like a nice area to make an attack as Houffalize is just a few hexes away to the east....but secondary roads and a blown bridge makes this difficult. Indragnir has started blowing bridges over major rivers in the south. Once he starts doing this on streams in Forest hexes things are going to sloooow down even more.