Tactics in Elsenborn Ridge
Scenario 22: 'St. Vith: The Fall,' Part 3
By Doug McNair
July 2008

The Volksgrenadiers push to within a kilometer of St. Vith (the large town on the northwestern board) in today’s episode of my Elsenborn Ridge Scenario #22 replay. Last time, the Germans repulsed an armored counterattack on their southern flank while bypassing the first roadblock on the northern road and massing forces in front of the next roadblock. The Americans have inflicted severe losses on the Volksgrenadiers but have taken even worse, so they’re hoping that continued fighting on the roads will weaken the Germans enough that they won’t be able to take the western towns once they get there.

The predicted snowstorm should help with that, slowing the Tiger II tanks so American artillery and HMG fire has more time to weaken the Volksgrenadiers. The +2 bonus which each snowstorm roll gets this hour should help, but Old Man Winter has been less than helpful to the GIs thus far and the Americans aren’t holding their breath.

The battle continues.

Turn Nine: 1700 Hours

Visibility drops to six hexes as night falls, and the German player rolls 5 + 2 = 7 and the snow still doesn’t arrive. German initiative is still 2 to America’s 0, and this time the Germans beat the Americans by two activations. A Lieutenant with a +1 combat bonus forms a fire team against the reduced INF that just recovered morale on the 40-meter hill by the northern road. He scores an X result that wipes out the INF (1 German VP) and disrupts the Lieutenant who was leading it. The Tiger II company just north of the 40-meter hill then opens fire on the American INF on the road just ahead, but the Americans pass the morale check.

American offboard artillery hits the Colonel leading the northern German advance and scores an X result that kills a GREN step (1 American VP) but fails to shake the Colonel’s morale or that of the other GRENs with him (it just barely fails to kill the Colonel himself, rolling a 4 – 1 = 3 for leader losses). German offboard artillery is ineffective, and so is American 57mm AT gunfire and Nebelwerfer fire.

An M4 Sherman step that got blocked from infiltrating the German rear pulls back west, and more Nebelwerfer fire is ineffective. The incredible INF platoon that failed to hurt the Nebelwerfers but has slaughtered half the Volksgrenadiers sent to destroy it continues its slaughtering ways, rolling a 12 on the 11 column for an X result that kills another GREN step (1 American VP) and demoralizes the other step plus the Sergeant leading it.

With no more artillery to call on, the Volksgrenadier companies leading the northern advance move adjacent to the American roadblock, using light woods for cover where possible. Opportunity fire from that roadblock plus the roadblock in the hill to the west is ineffective.

The leaderless Americans at the roadblock to the east then try to wipe out the last of the Volksgrenadiers assaulting them so they can start firing on the German rear, and they succeed, rolling a 5 on the 18 column to kill the last GREN step in the hex (1 American VP) and demoralize the Lieutenant leading them (he is displaced from the hex). The Germans want those Americans to remain leaderless, so the Major who coordinated the failed assault on them activates and tells his men to capture the demoralized American Lieutenant who fled from the roadblock. A Captain and an HMG move north into his hex, but the Germans roll a 6 and he escapes into the hex just to the west. No more men can be committed to capturing just one man, so the Major sends his two remaining HMG platoons west while trying to rally a Lieutenant and three more platoons. The demoralized Lieutenant rallies but the demoralized, reduced HMG with him does not and flees east, and one disrupted GREN recovers. The American Lieutenant tries to recover morale so he can rejoin his units at the roadblock, but he fails and flees north.

The turn then ends on a Fog of War roll. The score is now America 42, Germany 21.

Turn 10: 1715 Hours

Visibility drops to four hexes, and the Germans roll a 2 + 2 = 4 and there’s still no snow. German initiative is still 2, and the Germans beat the Americans by one activation. A Lieutenant with a +1 combat bonus combines point-blank fire on the second roadblock on the northern road, and just barely manages to disrupt the INF unit there. The Colonel then jumps in with his two GREN units (one full-strength and one disrupted) and assaults the hex, but the Americans do superbly on defense and disrupt the Colonel and his half-strength GREN while demoralizing his full-strength GREN. The Americans immediately counterassault and roll a 6 on the 9 column, wiping out the reduced GREN and doing another step loss to the demoralized GREN through compound demoralization (2 American VPs)! But the Volksgrenadiers die bravely for their Colonel and demoralize the American INF, so now all the units in the hex are demoralized.

The Germans then fire point-blank on the leaderless roadblock to the east and demoralize the HMG unit there (eliminating a huge worry for the German Major). The 57mm AT gun fires again at the StugIIIG on the southern road but misses, and then the Germans on the 40-meter hill to the north send some units to the roadblock while sending others into the assault on the mortars on the hill. American first fire is ineffective, but the Germans roll poorly and only manage to disrupt one of the mortars.

Because of the decreasing visibility, no American leaders are able to spot for artillery against the northern Volksgrenadier battalions, so American OBA hits the southern Volksgrenadiers and demoralizes a GREN unit. German OBA and Nebelwerfer fire is ineffective as American units near the southern roadblock recover morale. The Volksgrenadiers there move on the roadblock before the rallying Americans can rejoin it, and the HMG platoon at the roadblock wreaks havoc on them, scoring a X result that kills a GREN step (1 American VP). A GREN that got demoralized by American OBA fails to recover morale and flees, but three other German platoons recover to good order while more Germans advance on the roadblock.

The Incredible Disrupted Platoon fires and kills the demoralized German Sergeant and his last GREN step through compound demoralization (1 American VP). The German mortars get a move on so that same platoon doesn’t head north and destroy them.

The Americans at the bypassed roadblock to the north fire on the German Major while trying to recover the morale of their HMGs. They disrupt a GREN with the Major, but the American HMG fails to recover and flees. Opportunity fire from German HMGs to the west inflicts a step loss on them through compound demoralization (1 German VP). The German Major sends a GREN unit after the fleeing Americans while trying and failing to help two disrupted GRENs recover.

The turn then ends on redeployments and recoveries, with a Tiger II unit driving up to the southern roadblock to join the Stugs there and an M4 Sherman unit moving to a crossfire position should the Tiger II company on the northern hill move westward down the road. The score is now America 46, Germany 22.

Turn 11: 1730 Hours

Visibility drops to two hexes, and the Germans roll a 6 + 2 = 8 and the snow is still holding off. German initiative drops to one, and the Americans finally win an initiative roll, by two activations!

The HMG at the southern roadblock fires point-blank on the GRENs while the 57mm AT gun fires at the Stugs. Unfortunately, the HMGs roll poorly and only manage to disrupt a reduced-strength GREN, and the AT gun misses the Stugs. Then American offboard artillery hits the same hex and does much better, demoralizing the Lieutenant and the full-strength GREN in the hex.

Then the Germans pile more units into the assault hex on the northern road, where all the existing units are demoralized. The assault kills an American INF step (1 German VP) but still leaves a demoralized INF step blocking the road, but it also kills the American Captain leading the INF. Fire from the American INF at the roadblock to the east is ineffective, and then the Tiger II and Stug platoons fire point-blank on the southern roadblock and score an X result that kills an HMG step, demoralizes the other step and disrupts the Captain commanding the HMG (1 German VP). The GREN units in the neighboring hex recover morale but their Lieutenant does not and flees north. American mortar fire hits the GRENs by the southern roadblock again but is ineffective, and more Germans advance on the roadblock while a Captain heads east to retrieve a demoralized GREN.

The Incredible Disrupted Platoon recovers to good order, and German mortars head west to get the hell away from it. The American HMG that fled from the northeastern roadblock fails to recover and flees south (avoiding an assault from neighboring GRENs), and a Lieutenant moves past the secondary northern roadblock to a spotting position on the next roadblock to the west. Opportunity fire from that roadblock does not harm the Lieutenant but demoralizes both ENG units moving with him. A long-demoralized American INF on the southern road still fails to recover, and German offboard artillery fire against the third American roadblock on the northern road is ineffective.

The turn then ends on a Fog of War roll after recoveries on both sides and a few more German units moving west. The score is now America 46, Germany 24.

Turn 12: 1745 Hours

The Germans roll an 8 + 2 = 10, and the clouds thicken but there’s no snow yet. The Germans beat the Americans by one activation, and they assault the southern roadblock before the reduced, demoralized American HMGs there can recover. But the Americans are still dug in and get first fire, and they roll a 6 on the 5 column to score an M2 result that demoralizes every single German in the assault including the Tiger II platoon! Beyond the ignominy, the Germans are now extremely vulnerable to counterassault by the rapidly-recovering INF and I&R units just to the west. The assault on the American 57mm AT gun on the road to the northwest has no effect.

The Sergeant just west of the assault sends an INF unit adjacent to the now-demoralized Germans while the I&R unit next to him recovers morale. German offboard artillery then hits the third roadblock on the northern road and disrupts the Lieutenant commanding it plus the INF unit there, but not the more-important HMG. The leaderless INF at the northeastern roadblock fires point-blank at a GREN unit and demoralizes it! The Germans are then finally able to wipe out the demoralized American INF at the second roadblock (1 German VP), pulling a disrupted GREN out of the assault hex at the same time to make way for the Tiger IIs.

The Incredible now-Undisrupted Platoon charges south to finish the job on the Nebelwerfers, and a Nebelwerfer battery fires on it with no effect. American mortar fire and more Nebelwerfer fire is ineffective, then the perpetually-demoralized INF unit on the road just west of the southern roadblock fails to recover and has to flee from the encroaching German HMGs.

The Germans assaulting the mortar batteries on the 40-meter hill to the north continue to perform miserably, with their Lieutenant becoming demoralized and a GREN becoming disrupted (they do no damage at all). The Tiger II company on the northern road then drives straight up to the third American roadblock, moving into spotting range of the M36 tank destroyers and daring them to fire.

The M4 Shermans have to move closer to get into a crossfire position due to the maximum visibility of 2 hexes, but if they do that they’ll be assaulted by the GRENs just north of the road. No hex that’s not adjacent to a GREN can get them a crossfire position, so they pull back westward.

The Lieutenant commanding the GRENs right behind the King Tigers activates and tries to rally his ENG units, and one recovers but the other flees. The M36 tank destroyer then fires at the Tiger IIs and rolls a modified 9 to bounce shells off one of them. Two German HMG platoons then move up just behind the Tiger IIs, and American opportunity fire from the roadblock is ineffective.

The demoralized American HMG at the southern roadblock fails to recover morale but escapes the hex unharmed because the demoralized Germans can’t fire at it on the way out. The turn then ends on a Fog of War roll after some ineffective fire and recoveries. The score is now America 46, Germany 25.

Turn 13: 1800 Hours

The snowstorm dieroll bonus goes up to +3, and the German player rolls a 7 + 3 = 10 and the lowering clouds still drop no snow.

The Americans win initiative by one activation, and they have to make an agonizing choice: let the M36 tank destroyer fire twice more at the King Tigers before it gets obliterated, or let the INF by the southern roadblock assault the German tanks there while they’re still demoralized (thus quite possibly killing a King Tiger unit in the process). They give the tank destroyers a last hurrah, but roll miserably and score no hits.

The Germans breathe a sigh of relief and roll to recover their demoralized tanks by the southern roadblock, and both of them plus the Lt. Colonel and reduced GREN with them recover! That’s a huge blow to the Americans, who take out their frustrations on the Nebelwerfers by sending the Incredible Platoon in to assault them. But they roll poorly and do no damage, and then two King Tiger platoons fire point-blank on the northern roadblock while a third obliterates the M36 tank destroyers (4 German VPs). The tanks roll an 11 on the 22 column for an X result that kills an INF step and demoralizes the other step along with the Lieutenant commanding the roadblock (1 German VP). But the HMG there is still in good order.

The Americans there try to recover morale so their Lieutenant can spot for offboard artillery, and he does but his reduced, demoralized INF flees. German offboard artillery hits the roadblock but the Americans there pass the morale check, and then American offboard artillery replies by hitting a three-high stack of HMGs and a GREN on the road, demoralizing a Lieutenant and all three German units in the hex!

The demoralized GREN by the roadblock to the east rolls a 2 and recovers all the way to good order, but fire from the neighboring Americans demoralizes it again. Then a German captain takes two GRENs adjacent to the roadblock to the west, but opportunity fire from the HMG at the roadblock demoralizes one of his GRENs and disrupts the other! American mortar fire rolls a 2 and demoralizes an HMG on the southern road, and an HMG and a GREN that got demoralized by American OBA fail to recover morale and flee east (their Lieutenant and another HMG recover).

The Perpetually Demoralized Platoon finally recovers, and the Germans bring an HMG into their assault against the 57mm AT gun at the southern roadblock and wipe it out (1 German VP). That leaves the road open for the German tanks once they finish recovering morale. The Americans respond by sending their fast I&R unit west toward where the Perpetually Demoralized Platoon recovered to set up a new roadblock.

More northern German units advance westward to the roadblock, and the INF unit by the just-breached southern roadblock fires at the breaching units while its Lieutenant and a demoralized HMG try to recover. The fire is ineffective but the demoralized HMG rolls a 2 and recovers all the way to good order! That’s a big problem for the German tanks, who are now facing a very powerful assault force.

The Nebelwerfer that isn’t currently being assaulted fires at the just-recovered Americans with no effect, and after an isolated American HMG to the north recovers to good order the Amazing Mortars demoralize two more German platoons assasulting them. But the remaining GREN rolls a 6 and manages to demoralize one of the mortar units, and the demoralized German leader recovers morale. The turn then ends on a Fog of War roll.

The score is now America 46, Germany 31.

Turn 14: 1815 Hours

The Germans roll an 11 + 3 = 14, and the snowstorm finally blows in! Maximum visibility drops to one hex, and vehicle movement will become slowed on Turn 17. The Germans beat the Americans by one activation, and the force that breached the southern roadblock combines fire on the just-recovered Americans in the next hex. They roll a 3 on the 30 column that obliterates an INF unit (2 German VPs) but fails to demoralize the reduced HMG there or its Lieutenant. So the Germans send a GREN unit into the hex to assault it, but the Americans pass the M2 morale check. A German HMG recovers morale.

The American INF at the northeastern roadblock fires point-blank on the adjacent German HMG and disrupts it. The King Tiger company then fires point-blank on the roadblock to the west but the Americans pass the morale check. The HMGs at the roadblock fire and demoralize an adjacent GREN while the disrupted American Lieutenant at the roadblock recovers morale.

German offboard artillery then hits the roadblock and the American Lieutenant becomes demoralized. An M4 Sherman unit north of the roadblock moves southwest toward St. Vith, and the turn ends on a Fog of War roll after redeployments and recoveries.

The score is now America 46, Germany 33.

Turn 15: 1830 Hours

The Germans win initiative by one activation, and the King Tigers again fire point-blank on the north-central roadblock. They roll a 10 on the 30 column for an X result that kills an HMG step (1 German VP), eliminates the Lieutenant in the hex through compound demoralization and leaves the remaining HMG step demoralized. A Lieutenant and two GREN units then jump into the roadblock hex and assault the remaining HMG step, but the Americans get first fire and fight bravely to the last, demoralizing a GREN and just barely hanging on by failing a morale check by two (failing by 3 would have killed them due to compound demoralization). Other Germans in the area near the roadblock recover.

The American INF at the northeastern roadblock fires point-blank at the HMG in the adjoining hex and rolls a 2 for an X result that kills an HMG step and demoralizes the other (1 American VP). The Germans then wipe out the last HMG step by the southern road (1 German VP) and demoralize its Lieutenant, who escapes the hex. They also send an HMG up the road to prevent the Americans from pushing forward again.

The Americans on the road just ahead of the advancing HMGs start digging in, and German offboard artillery fire is ineffective. Shermans pull back to St. Vith, and the King Tigers on the southern road recover to good order (the Stugs and GREN with them do not).

The assault on the Nebelwerfers continues to go nowhere, German mortar fire is ineffective, and after an isolated HMG platoon moves two hexes west the unengaged Nebelwerfer battery fires on the northeastern roadblock and disrupts the American INF there. Then after some recoveries the Germans finally manage to wipe out one of the mortar units on the 40-meter northern hilltop and demoralize the other (1 German VP), while two demoralized GRENs exit the assault hex.

The turn then ends on redeployments and recoveries, with the demoralized mortar in the assault hex recovering and the demoralized HMG at the north-central roadblock failing to recover but actually making an M1 morale check to survive the German free shot as it leaves the hex.

The score is now America 47, Germany 36.

Turn 16: 1845 Hours

The Germans beat the Americans by one activation, and an assault by the lead GREN unit on the northern road finally wipes out the demoralized HMG step that fled from the roadblock (1 German VP), but the Americans manage to disrupt the Lieutenant leading the assault. Nevertheless, the road is now clear and the King Tiger company crests the hill. Unfortunately, the only other good order units that are available to advance behind the King Tigers are one GREN and one HMG. The King Tigers have to halt on the hill since driving ahead to the town would expose them to an American assault with little infantry support. A nearby demoralized GREN flees eastward while a disrupted GREN fails to recover, so the King Tigers will be waiting a while for support.

The Americans on the southern road finish digging-in and form a new roadblock there, and German units start heading up the road toward it while others recover.

The disrupted INF at the northeastern roadblock fires ineffectively, and recovered GREN units start bypassing it. The turn then ends on a Fog of War roll after redeployments and recoveries, with several German units regrouping on the northeastern hill. The score is now America 47, Germany 37.

So with the game half over, the German armored spearhead has fought its way past the last roadblock and to within five hexes of St. Vith, but its infantry support has broken and run and the King Tigers will have to wait until the Volksgrenadiers rally and rejoin them. The southern battalion has been cut down to company strength, so even if they fight their way past the new roadblock there they may not have the strength to take the southwestern town hexes. The Americans still have a 10 VP lead, which is enough for a Minor Victory. Holding that lead will depend on whether the demoralized Volksgrenadiers on the northeastern hill can recover and push forward in sufficient strength to support the Tiger IIs and take St. Vith in assaults.

Can they do it? Tune in next time and find out!

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