Bulge 16.01s alt

[Plain Ian]

7th Army – centre and right wing

Fuhrer Grenadier Bde – this unit arrived at Surre and contributed in the push to Warnach. Its been lightly engaged so has had few casualties. I think he has lost several armoured cars and Marders at best. The I/PzGR 99 is at 95% (526 men) and the II/PzGR 99 is still 100% with 540 men.
Interestingly the II/PzGR 99 seems to be in a detached reserve position near Grevils. The rest of the Brigade is static at Warnach watching the crossings at Martelnge. It has 24 Panthers, 8 Pz Kw IV’s and 17 StuG III’s to do this.
 
212th VGD – has fought a long 10 day campaign from Echternach-Consdorf-Mersch-Bouch then ended up being deployed at Pratz. Its suffered over 1,100 casualties, most of them I suspect in the bloody battles of the 24th at Pratz. The Division is a good quality unit and its Battalions start on the 16th at 95% of TOE. (612 men)  As you can see most of them are now below 500 with one or two exceptions and the Diviison is requiring some rest. I am not quite sure why Cesar persisted in the battles of the 24th, however perhaps the answer lies in the condition of the Pz Lehr and 5th FJD?

5th FJD – has suffered almost 1,400 casualties. Its battalions were 700 strong on the 17th (82% of full TOE 850 men) and now most of them average 500. Interestingly the Pioneer Bn has actually gained strength so it must have been sitting idle in the rear for most of the campaign. This probably explains the NO BRIDGE status of the unit. However in terms of fatigue the 5th appears to be in good condition. It was never fully committed on the 24th but had been engaged extensively the few days prior to that. Cesar has probably been resting it behind the 212th.
The I/FJR 14 and III/FJR 14 were detached fighting further north. (Michael) Cesar has finally reunited the Division.

Panzer Lehr – I’m surprised to see how bad things are. Cesar did mention that because Michael operated it as companies then he had a lot of work to re unite them and lower the fatigue.
To save space on the map I’ve put the unit opening and current strength on a separate chart. As you can see his tank strength is down to 16 Panthers, 10 Pz Kw IV’s and 9 StuG III’s. His infantry are mere shells of their starting strength and badly needing more resting.
 


However the Lehr Werfer Regiment is still potent having 80% of its guns still active despite my best counter battery efforts. In fact there are 3 more Werfer Regiments in this area. (2nd/21st/22nd) adding in another 100 tubes.

7th Army has 3 heavy artillery battalions with 23 pieces plus two Volks Artillery Bdes (406th/408th) with another 106 pieces. (plus the artillery of 3 Divison’s 5th/212th/Pz Lehr) Not that impressive really when I compare that to US V/VII Corps artillery attachments in the far north, but considering my US VIII/XIII Corps had only 3 Bn’s (43 pieces) in the south supporting in this area then it was pretty overwhelming.