To start our new Battle of the Bulge theme, we decided to play a scenario that was posted on Battlefront’s Flames of War website. The scenario is no longer on the site, but fortunately Wargamerabbit preserved it on his site, which is linked here:
https://wargamerabbit.wordpress.com/2018/07/30/peipers-charge-bulge-1944/
WGR also corrected some flaws in the original scenario, which was written for FOW Version 3. We played it using FOW Version 4.
The scenario depicts the advance of Kampfgruppe Peiper toward the Meuse River from 17-20 December 1944. The scenario is at a very abstract level that boils all of the action down to one day. While flawed historically, the scenario gives a good sense of the tight timetable under which Peiper was operating, and how the advance was thrown off schedule by pockets of American resistance that increased in strength over time. The scenario also looked to be a fun challenge for both sides, and was one that we had been wanting to play for quite some time.
Our 18X5 foot table was set up per the scenario maps with the long axis running east-west. Peiper’s overarching objective is to get his force all the way across the table from east to west in 25 turns or less. His intermediate objectives are to cross each six-foot portion of the table in eight turns or less — failure to do so will result in American reserves entering sooner at the end game. There are three fuel dumps on the table; each of their captures will give the Germans a double move, which is essential given the tight timetable. American combat engineers have the ability to destroy the bridges over the otherwise impassible rivers, which can severely constrict the Germans’ axis of advance.
American deployments were per the scenario. The orders of battle were also per the scenario, with the addition of an infantry HQS and some extra bazooka teams for the Americans, and a PzGd. HQS plus the Skorzeny commando cards for the Germans.
The action began at the village of Lanzerath on the extreme eastern end of the table, which was defended by an American roadblock strongpoint. A combined arms assault by German Fallschirmjagers (FJ) and Panthers swept the defenders away on the first turn.
On Turn 2, the Germans advanced around both sides of Lanzerath while the minefield across the road was cleared. A platoon of armored PanzerGrenadiers bypassed the town and drove onto the road. This was a mistake, as the American armor advanced and took out the two leading halftracks with long range shots. The wrecked halftracks would hinder the use of the road until they were cleared away.
The next target for KG Peiper was the village of Bullingen, which was defended by an American rifle platoon deployed in the houses. A Sherman tank platoon and an M10 tank destroyer platoon supported the defenders. To further bolster the defense, the US HQS moved into the town on its MG-armed jeeps.
The German attack on Bullingen started badly. The leading Pz.Gd. platoon dismounted and advanced through a wood to assault the first house. The grenadiers, which had already been weakened, took losses from defensive fire and took further losses in the close combat and were pushed back. The two remaining teams then failed their morale check and left the field. Infantry was a critical resource for the tank-heavy German force, and one platoon was already lost with nothing to show for it.
The Germans regrouped and tried again, sending their FJ platoon forward though the wood. Meanwhile, the German Panzers were fighting a one-sided duel with the US tanks and TDs, which resulted in the US armor being eliminated for the loss of three Pz.IVs.
The Germans also brought their artillery onto the table, in the form of six Grille self-propelled guns. The heavy guns ranged in and started to blast the Americans out of the houses. The German SP AA tanks also moved forward and put direct fire into the houses. The effect of this fire eliminated the US HQS and softened up the defenders for the FJ to assault. The assault swept through the town, eliminating the defenders and capturing the fuel dump. However, the time that was required to make this deliberate attack on Bullingen threw off the German schedule, and they were too late to capture their first objective at Ligneuville.
Adding more rocks to their rucksacks, as the leading Panthers were approaching the bridge behind Ligneuville, it blew up in their faces! The destruction of this bridge would force the Germans to move all of their forces through the corridor on the northern side of the table, where no rivers blocked the advance.
Phase Two of the game began with a German double move, courtesy of the fuel dump that was captured at Bullingen. The Germans used this move to surge onto the middle third of the table with the village of Stavelot in their sights.
Stavelot was defended by a dismounted armored rifle platoon, supported by four 3-inch AT guns. Somewhat wary of the guns, the Germans took them under long range fire from their two King Tigers and artillery fire from the Grilles while the remaining Germans maneuvered toward the village. Soon, two AT guns were knocked out, leaving the other two out of command, which led to them failing their morale check and departing. With only bazookas to concern them, the Panzers closed on the village, along with the platoon of surviving FJ and the last platoon of Pz.Gd.
With artillery fire and MG fire from the Panzers pinning the defenders, the FJ and Pz.Gd. assaulted both ends of Stavelot and cleared it. But the delay in taking the village, combined with the earlier delays, resulted in the Germans being too late to take their second intermediate objective. Only eight turns remained in the game, and the Germans were feeling the time pressure.
Meanwhile, the American combat engineers destroyed the two bridges at Trois Ponts, adding further blockage to the southern axis of advance. Once these jobs were done, the engineers began to withdraw to the west, moving toward another bridge to destroy at Cheneux, to the south of Stoumont.
The final phase of the game began with a German double move onto the last third of the table, thanks to the captured fuel dump at Stavelot. This move put the guns of the leading Panzers within long range of the American “scrap yard” tank platoon at Targnon, and the M36 Jackson TD was destroyed.
With the German entry onto the last table, American reserves were released. The German failures to capture the two intermediate objectives meant that four reserve platoons were immediately available, but the Germans played one of their Skorzeny commando cards to confuse the road signs, which delayed two of the reserve platoons (the umpire had to make a call as to how this card would affect this situation). As their first reserves, the Americans chose a veteran Paratroop platoon to enter via the northern road, and a tank platoon to enter in the south. The Americans also successfully rolled for air support to enter from reserve, but this much needed support would fail all but one of its rolls to actually appear. (The bad flying weather must have persisted!)
In the north, the American defense consisted of a dug in rifle platoon deployed in the woods behind the village of Stoumont, with a couple of teams close enough to contest control of the fuel dump in the village. The three surviving tanks of the “scrap yard” platoon moved behind the woods to provide close support, and the first reserve paratroop platoon moved to a position behind the tanks and dug in. In the south, a combat engineer platoon was deployed behind the bridge at Habiemont, ready to destroy it if the Germans moved any forces in that direction. The first reserve tank platoon moved through Habiemont to seek firing positions against the mass of German armor that was moving to the north. The combat engineers from Trois Ponts moved toward the bridge at Cheneux but did not get there before the Panzers, and had to take up an alternate position in the woods behind the bridge, which was sufficient to deter any German attempts to cross.
The Germans pushed their spearheads up to Stoumont. The FJ platoon, which had been riding on the leading Panzers, dismounted and attempted to assault the US rifle platoon in the woods. False rumors spread by the Skorzeny commandos had pinned this rifle platoon. Nevertheless, the assault was bloodily repulsed by rifle fire and MG fire from the nearby tanks, and the three surviving FJ teams withdrew into the houses of the village.
The Americans used the time gained to move their final reserves onto the table. One more tank platoon and one more paratroop platoon moved to the vicinity of Targnon. This small village was next to the road exit from the table, and would be the last line of defense.
The Germans then made a concerted effort to destroy the American tanks in the north, ignoring the US tank platoon south of the river. In two turns, all of the US tanks in the north were burning, for the loss of two Panthers and one Pz.IV. (One of the Panthers was lost to a bazooka assault by the intrepid paratroopers at Targnon.)
Freed of the threat from enemy tanks, a Panther platoon then made two attempts to assault into the woods near Stoumont, losing one Panther on each attempt. After the second close combat, the surviving teams from the US rifle platoon consolidated to the rear, which took them out of assault range of the lurking Pz.Gd. platoon. This enabled the Germans to capture the fuel dump, but at this late stage of the game, the extra move was of no benefit.
The German SP artillery stopped moving forward and tried to range in on Targnon, but without success. American airpower finally showed up and attacked the German artillery, evading AA fire as they dove into their attacks. A burst of rocket fire from the planes took out one SP gun and left two others bailed out. The German artillery remounted, then started to place effective indirect fire onto the defenders of Targnon.
As the game reached its penultimate turn, the Americans were on the ropes, but the Germans were still blocked from the road exit. German tank assaults, led by Pz.IVs and Tiger IIs, killed some bazooka teams and forced the Americans to withdraw to their final defensive line, just in front of the road exit, where they dug in on the American half of the turn.
On the 25th turn, the Panzers closed in for the kill. Two Panthers, led by Peiper himself in his own Panther, made the first assault. After two rounds of close combat, one Panther was burning, and Peiper and the other Panther were forced to withdraw. But with nowhere to go, the victorious American defenders had to brace themselves for the next assault by two King Tigers. This final assault crushed the last of the defenders at the road exit, which enabled the two Tigers to consolidate forward, exiting the table as they went.
Thus the game ended on the final turn as a marginal German victory!
This epic game was played over two sessions. Two players on each side played the first two phases, and three players on each side played the final phase. Not the most historical scenario, but very tense and lots of fun.
- TJ