Last Blitzkrieg - 17 Dec 1944
January 3rd, 2021
Here is my AAR for day number 2 of a multi-player LB CG that is being run by Bill Durran. Bill is posting an overall AAR of the CG and I thought it might be nice to supplement tat with a more detailed AAR of the units that I am commanding. In this CG, I have the pleasure of running the Axis Northern units as shown below.
Historical weather is being used and we have Normal ground conditions with Fair atmosphere conditions and Full visibility.
Overnight our team received 3 AV replacements and 8 Non-AV replacements. I allocated my replacements as follows -
- AV replacement on the 560 JgPz unit in 12th SS
- non-AV replacement to II/25 PzGr of 12th SS
In the Assignment phase, I removed the 88 unit from 326th VG with the hope that it can make its way over to KGP tomorrow.
The activation sequence is set randomly by Bill for all players, and each side only has information related to their activation sequence. We are using orders, but have the benefit of seeing our activation sequence before having to commit to our orders.
All of my formations, with the exception of 326th VG, are on the move today. 326th VG will enter PD and Recovery Fatigue.
12th SS Pz
The formation shrugged off its coordination and ghost trains and achieved a full activation placing a DT in 42.30 which covers a plethora of US units. The HQ placed its march objectives but given its CR of 12 hexes would not likely move at all today.
1,3/I Pz battalion in the crossroads (43.31) opened the activities by flipping to its deployed side and using its two fire events to engage and dropped support allocated to the adjacent infantry battalions of the US 2nd ID and US 99th ID. The second engagement was good enough to inflict a step loss on the 801st AT battalion.
Next I/25 PzGr deployed and moved through the woods to attack the now unsupported 99ID units on the track east of the main road. This attack included 3 destruction artillery barrages which were all ineffective. The main attack, assisted by the adjacent panzers, was lackluster and resulted in an exchange with no ground gained.
Now the Pioneer unit deployed and moved through the woods to the north joining Bremer on the main road to assist an attack on the unsupported 2ID units on the road (42.30). Again the attack was preceded by (in this case 2) destruction missions, which were effective against one of the two defending battalions dropping it down to its last step. The main attack, made by Bremmer with the Pioneer assisting resulted in an A1 / Situational result. This forced the defenders to retreat and allowed Bremmer, now down 1 step, to take the hex, albeit with traffic.
The 5,6/I Pz battalion now flipped to its deployed side and occupied the spot vacated by Bremmer. It then engaged and dropped the support allocated to the 1/9 2ID battalion and used its second fire event to eliminate the unit with an attack by fire.
III/26 PzGr mounted up in their half-tracks moved into the traffic hex with Bremmer and attacked 3/38 2ID on the road to the south. This attack, supported by a Suppression mission, routed the defenders inflicting 2 step losses and sending them back to their HQ allowing the grenadiers to take possession of another key road hex.
With the attacks now completed, the formation checked and suffered an additional step of fatigue and was unable to achieve a second activation.
Overall this was a successful activation by 12th SS Pz. Being able to attack the US 2nd ID twice before it was able to establish a prepared defense was very fortunate.
KGP
Up next was KGP, they remained fresh and similar to 12th SS were able to shrug off their negative SNAFU modifiers a obtain a full result. Their march objective was Spa, via Francorchamps, Malmedy, and Waimes. However, they must first deal with the 254 Static Eng battalion blocking the road in the village of Bulullingen (38.22).
For this task, Peiper called on the 501st Tiger battalion which had just passed its mechanical reliability check. A DT was placed in Bulligen and 501 rolled in for the Shock Attack. It was decided to not couple the shock attack with an Attack by FIre as that would have exhausted both of the Tiger's fire events and required it to stop in Bullingen. The attack succeeded in forcing a retreat which eliminated the static unit but did place traffic in the hex which stopped the Tiger in the village. This was only a minor drawback as the rest of the formation was able to skirt the village to the South and jump back onto the road just west of the village. This would however limit the advance of the HQ given the requirement to keep this hex within Peipers puny command range.
The 6,7/I Pz battalion did just that and rolled up the road forcing a soft jump on the 99 US ID HQ before settling in an open ground hex mid-way between Waimes and Dom. Butgenbach. The HQ moved next, stopping just in CR of the tiger in Bullingen. The Pioneer moved into Butgenbach and Spitze placed a recon objective on the units of the US 2nd ID.
The 1,2/I Pz battalion passed through everyone and settled on the road just west of Waimes. 9.12/2 Pz Gr then made its move taking up a blocking position on the road north of Waimes. 11,13/2 Pz Gr rolled up into the hex with Spitze and attacked the unprepared 3/38 US 2 ID battalion in 37.26.
Peiper lost his Fresh status but was able to achieve a second activation which was only a partial this time. The objective was placed on the city of Malmedy. At this time Malmedy is occupied by both a static unit and the 99th Nor battalion which the allied player had assigned to the US 2nd ID. We decided that the unit was eligible for support and the 1,2/I Pz battalion was sent to engage that support, which in this case required two fire events to accomplish. The 9.12/22 Pz Gr unit then came in for a hasty attack which failed to inflict any casualties on the defenders in the city.
Another failed fatigue check and Pieper was done for the 17th.
1st SS Pz
1st SS started used on the 16th of December and failed their second activation attempt and therefore was ready to roll on the 17th. Their initial move orders were to proceed to Butgenbach (35.25). Placing a DT in the village of Bullingen (38.22) which had changed hands twice on 16-Dec and although vacant was currently controlled by the Allies.
The 1st JgPz battalion was sent down the road first and engaged / destroyed Company C/18 from 14 Cav. The HQ moved next stopping along the main road must NW of Bullingen. The rest of the formation continued the move deploying along the main road around Butgenbach. KG Knittel was successful in placing a recon OBJ marker in the village of Elsenborn and then proceeded to botch an engagement against the support allocated to the 2 battalions of the US 2nd ID that were holed up in the village. Despite the inability to drop support, KG Knittel proceeded with a regular attack against the village. The attack was preceded by 3 artillery destruction missions that removed a total of three steps from the defenders. The regular attack was resolved and the KG again took it in the teeth suffering another step loss without inflicting any damage on the defenders. On the plus side, the 1st SS did not suffer fatigue on this activation and remained fresh and achieved a second full activation.
A DT was placed on Elsenborn village and the formation assembled for the attack. Agan the JgPz led the way and engaged the US 2nd ID support in both Elsenborn and the hex to the West. Both of these engagements successfully dropped the support from the defenders.
WIth support dropped, KG Knittle placed a recon OBJ in Camp d'Elsenborn, and then moved through the Camp as well as the village of Sourbrodt ending up in on the woods-road north of the village. III/1 Pz Gr battalion moved into the Camp and declared a regular attack against the 1/23 US 2ID infantry battalion northeast of the camp. Again this attack was preceded by 3 artillery destruction missions that resulted in a single step loss. The attack, assisted by the JgPz batallion went off and successfully routed the defenders back to their HQ refuge.
Next, II/1 Pz Gr battalion along with the Pioneer batallion moved up to attack two unprepared units 2k east of Elsenborn. This attack included a Suppression mission and was enough to rout the defenders back to their HQ refuge as well. II/1 moved into the now vacant defenders hex.
The remaining Pz Gr battalions (I/1 and I/2) now closed with the two unsupported infantry battalions in Elsenborn and declared a regular attack, this time preceded by 2 destruction missions which resulted in a single step loss to each defender. The attack was less than steller however, inflicting a step loss on the attacker with no effect on the defenders. The compulsory check for fatigue was kind to the attackers and no fatigue was incurred.
277th VG
277th VG division begins fresh on the 17th and has orders to push west towards Krinkelt. The division was able to achieve two full activations with multiple attacks and suffering no fatigue. However, it was unable to clear the track to the Krinkelt with the 3/393 battalion of the US 99 ID surviving two attacks and blocking the way
326th VG
326th VG activated last and entered into prepared defense while recovering fatigue.
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