Crécy

Grey Wolf

Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Dark forest Posts: 795 Downloads: 316 Uploads: 0

"All Hitler wants me to do..." - TOAW III AAR "All Hitler wants me to do is to cross a river, capture Brussels, and then go on to take Antwerp. And all this at the worst time of the year through the Ardennes when the snow is waist-deep and there isn’t room to deploy four tanks abreast let alone armoured divisions. When it doesn’t get light until eight and it’s dark again at four and with re-formed divisions made up chiefly of kids and sick old men – and at Christmas."

-Sepp Dietrich, commander of Sixth SS Panzer Army

16th December, 1944 - 16th January, 1945.



Battle of the Bulge time it is in The Operational Art of War III. Scenario's map scale is 2.5km per hex, time scale half-day turns and unit scale battalion/regimental level. Game length is 60 turns. I'll be playing the Germans.



I'll be doing daily updates while the pace will be regularly irregular. Goal is to actually finish this in some time frame and I know I would feel pressured if I'd promise a certain pace and it would lead to not completing anything.



In short, this scenario covers the German offensive through Ardennes forest which goal was to cross Meuse and take Antwerpen, which would cut off the British troops in the north from American units in the south, and the eventual allied counter-attack. Victory points will be received from different towns and citys marked in the map with American flags as well as all crossing points at Meuse. There will also be permanent victory point locations which means (I assume) that if I take them I will receive the points from then even if the allied forces captures them afterwards.



* * *

Plan for the first days is to stretch the scattered allied forces to the limit by attacking and exploiting in every direction. I will have the upper hand as well as more troops for a week and a half at least and I should try to advance as far and as fast to the West as possible. Unfortunately Panzer divisions will be delayed for two or three turns before they are released which represents the historic delay in preparing the crossing sites for them or decisions to lead the initial attack with infantry divisions.







Legend:

Dashed lines: army boundaries

Red arrows: attack directions

Black circles: key objectives

Blue circles: if captured, Germans get a boost to supply



Initial goal is to capture the objectives marked with black circles as they are vital crossing points or crossroads. If allied forces manage to hold them too long, advance to Meuse -at least in force- can be forgotten as my forces will get stuck in traffic jams. Plan is to create a gap between Trois-Ponts and Houffalize so the armoured divisions coming in few days can be channeled through quickly. But I will roll with the punches as more intel is gathered on whereabouts of allied forces. In that regard, Trois-Ponts - Houffalize sector should be quite lightly defended.



6th SS Panzer army will exploit the Losheim gap and drive West for Trois-Ponts. Leading unit will be Kampfgruppe Peiper composed of different armoured elements. Meanwhile other divisions will try to capture Büllingen with its supplies and push the enemy behind the river running from Trois-Ponts to Büllingen thus widening the corridor.



5th Panzer army is tasked to take St.Vith and Vielsalm and the roads leading to Houffalize and Bastogne. If the fight for Bastogne is getting too heavy, it will be bypassed and pocketed.



7th Army is quite weak with almost no armoured elements. Its goal for the first days is to take Ettelbruck and ultimately stall the allied reinforcements coming from the South and screen the Trois-Ponts - Houffalize gap.



Initiative is mine for the first week and a half or so but after allied reinforcements start to come in and especially Patton's forces from the South, I will lose the initiative and I have to get defensive. But, we'll see how it goes. Probably not very well.









Table of Contents



December 16th

December 17th

December 18th

December 19th

December 20th

December 21st * * * 16th December, 1944 - 16th January, 1945.Battle of the Bulge time it is in The Operational Art of War III. Scenario's map scale is 2.5km per hex, time scale half-day turns and unit scale battalion/regimental level. Game length is 60 turns. I'll be playing the Germans.I'll be doing daily updates while the pace will be regularly irregular. Goal is to actually finish this in some time frame and I know I would feel pressured if I'd promise a certain pace and it would lead to not completing anything.In short, this scenario covers the German offensive through Ardennes forest which goal was to cross Meuse and take Antwerpen, which would cut off the British troops in the north from American units in the south, and the eventual allied counter-attack. Victory points will be received from different towns and citys marked in the map with American flags as well as all crossing points at Meuse. There will also be permanent victory point locations which means (I assume) that if I take them I will receive the points from then even if the allied forces captures them afterwards.Plan for the first days is to stretch the scattered allied forces to the limit by attacking and exploiting in every direction. I will have the upper hand as well as more troops for a week and a half at least and I should try to advance as far and as fast to the West as possible. Unfortunately Panzer divisions will be delayed for two or three turns before they are released which represents the historic delay in preparing the crossing sites for them or decisions to lead the initial attack with infantry divisions.Initial goal is to capture the objectives marked with black circles as they are vital crossing points or crossroads. If allied forces manage to hold them too long, advance to Meuse -at least in force- can be forgotten as my forces will get stuck in traffic jams. Plan is to create a gap between Trois-Ponts and Houffalize so the armoured divisions coming in few days can be channeled through quickly. But I will roll with the punches as more intel is gathered on whereabouts of allied forces. In that regard, Trois-Ponts - Houffalize sector should be quite lightly defended.6th SS Panzer army will exploit the Losheim gap and drive West for Trois-Ponts. Leading unit will be Kampfgruppe Peiper composed of different armoured elements. Meanwhile other divisions will try to capture Büllingen with its supplies and push the enemy behind the river running from Trois-Ponts to Büllingen thus widening the corridor.5th Panzer army is tasked to take St.Vith and Vielsalm and the roads leading to Houffalize and Bastogne. If the fight for Bastogne is getting too heavy, it will be bypassed and pocketed.7th Army is quite weak with almost no armoured elements. Its goal for the first days is to take Ettelbruck and ultimately stall the allied reinforcements coming from the South and screen the Trois-Ponts - Houffalize gap.Initiative is mine for the first week and a half or so but after allied reinforcements start to come in and especially Patton's forces from the South, I will lose the initiative and I have to get defensive. But, we'll see how it goes. Probably not very well. __________________

Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new. -Henry David Thoreau Last edited by Crécy; 10-31-2013 at 02:02 AM .