These are games brought on by the seasonal temperature dip below zero(F) for a string of days, when hunkering down in the gaming cellar around a table covered with fake snow seems appropriate.
Fond memories of time spent (remotely via Discord) on the Raate Road for some Winter War gaming courtesy of a group in Finland (see here for more on that campaign) led me to visit the forest of the Vosges and Operation Nordwind (where I could use the American and German ‘Bulge’ stuff I had on hand!). A recent book purchase ( Mount Up! We’re Moving Out! ) led the interest-butterfly to land on the actions of the 94th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (part of Task Force Hudelson) on the opening night/day of the German attack.
The resulting campaign is -at best- similar to a movie in being ‘based on real events’, which means the usual disclaimer of ‘any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons is entirely coincidental’ should be liberally applied to what follows!
While I like to hunt down the historical location of an engagement/battle, getting this project on the table quickly (before the temperature rose!) meant settling the search on a suitably winding road found in the general area of the action without too much worry that it didn’t really fit the description of events in the book. Period aerial reconnaissance photos were found, but since they showed little in the way of novel features beyond ‘trees everywhere’, Google (combined with the usual data from Contour Map Creator) sufficed to supply the map of the campaign area…
…which is a twisting track through the ‘Bitchy Forest’ (-as the GIs called it) just north of Mouterhouse which seemed to offer some suitable places for the recon troops to slow down the German advance (which, to be honest, probably wouldn’t bother coming down such a narrow route…).1
The white box shown is the approximate hilltop location of the first battle / table (70″x80″) where the 1st Platoon of D Troop is tasked with holding the ground there while the rest of the U.S. forces sort themselves out in a clearing at the base of the hill (at the bottom where the track exits the map).
The situation at the beginning of the campaign is that the recon units have fallen back for the first few hours from their original positions (which were spread too thin to make a meaningful stand) since the attack began shortly after midnight of New Year’s day. Dawn is a couple hours away, and they’ve been ordered to slow the attackers enough to allow the Americans to rearrange the defenses to prevent the attack from breaching the Vosges passes. If the recon troop can manage to keep the Germans from reaching Mouterhouse for a few hours of daylight they will succeed in their mission.
The Americans will have three recon platoons
(each with 3x M8 armored cars + MG and mortar sections = 29 men).
Supports will/may include HQ troops, units from the 19th Armored Infantry Battalion, a Stuart tank, and -at the last ditch- an M36 tank destroyer ( -the latter two for no other reason than that they were in the book’s account of the action!).
The Germans will field a Volksgrenadier Company (Rifle and 2x Sturm Platoons)
…of the 257th VG Division as well as random supports that may come up the road behind them depending on the Battalion CO’s opinion (as dictated in ‘At the Sharp End‘). No claims of balance or ‘fairness’ are made (or intended) by the allocation of forces, and may very well be adjusted on-the-fly as the thing progresses.
With that introductory blather out of the way, it’s time to join the 1st Platoon up on the hill as the Germans have decided not to give them any more time to prepare and have launched an attack with their lead unit (a sturm platoon) to start the first game:
Intergame A
The short, confused burst of shooting in the dark is over, and both sides set to work preparing for the next round of fighting.
The (badly) wounded German Sturm platoon leader is carried back, leaving command in the hands of the senior assault gruppe leader who decides that no further attack will be mounted until more of the Company makes its way to the battlefield – so waiting for reinforcements is the order issued for the attackers.
The Americans also have wounded to deal with (the mortar section JL), as well as five POWs. They are evacuated to the base of the hill along with a report on the first fight and a request for support. While word from HQ is awaited, the men start to dig holes along the line of the firefight, and the tank makes its way (carefully!) into a position beside the track with an eye on the ridge’s neck to their front.
The Germans are the first to get support as the Company’s Rifle Platoon arrives around a half-hour after the end of the first fight. Their leader is eager to attack, but has difficulty persuading the (freshly brevetted) Sturm Platoon leader, who is in favor of waiting for the other assault platoon to improve the odds of success. A few minutes of heated arguing take place, but the sounds of more vehicles making their way up the hill places the winning weight on the ‘attack now’ side of the discussion, and the Sturm leader reluctantly agrees to get his men ready for a second assault.
The noise had come from the arrival up the hill of the recon Troop’s 2nd Platoon (whose leader is almost as eager for battle as the German Rifle Platoon’s CO). Both sides sort themselves out and the second round of fighting begins:
Intergame B
Each side sees its platoons split in how they recover from the fight.
The Sturm and 1st Platoons -both having fought twice and taken the lion’s share of their respective side’s casualties- are in no shape to continue fighting.
The German leader must see to the prisoner, as well as decide what to do with the two machineguns left behind by the Americans: The MMG might not be worth hauling around, but the heavy 50-cal certainly made an impression (on his men and the trees…) so figuring out how to integrate it into his force strikes him as worth a bit of time.
For the U.S. 1st Platoon leader, it will take him the better part of the next half-hour to gather his men. Fortunately, those that left the battlefield early didn’t get too far ahead of those that withdrew under orders, and the platoon will regroup a short way down the hill on an outcropping near the next bend in the track.
The 2nd Platoon -just down the hill at the first bend in the track- are regrouped and ready for orders when the leader is met by a panting messenger from the Troop CO.
It seems that a second branching path was missed in the night* which gives the enemy two paths down the ridge to Mouterhouse, so the plan (already a bit sketchy) must be remade to cover both tracks.
A call for reinforcements has been made, but the CO wants the enemy advance held until at least 0700.
*an honest goof by the player, but fit the story of a nighttime move in this terrain, so…going to go with it! : )
The Americans won’t have much time, as the eager leader of the German Rifle Platoon quickly sorts his men out, shooing them away from the Jeep and tank (-hunting for chocolate bars or whiskey or…?) and getting them formed up to continue the attack. He doesn’t bother to locate (much less confer with) the Sturm Platoon, and sends his men down the hill in pursuit of the retreating Americans…
Intergame C
Dawn’s light begins to brighten the eastern sky as all four platoons take a break from the fighting. The loss of the Leader of the German Rifle Platoon has taken the wind out of their sails, and the Sturm Platoon -numbering only 17 men- isn’t at all interested in chasing the retreating Americans by themselves. There’s also the rooting through of the abandoned armored car and other goodies to occupy the victors (including some ammunition for the captured 50-cal – though the other guns left have been disabled), so there is no immediate pursuit…
…which is good for the Americans since neither platoon is in shape to mount any sort of defense. The 1st Platoon leader had almost gotten his men ready to move back up the hill when the sight of the 2nd Platoon rushing back down the track extinguished any flicker of martial spirit they had, and the whole group tumbled down the hill – not in a mad rout, but no one was willing to stop until the corner was turned and the lack of pursuit had been confirmed.
Working their way down a steep portion of the track, they came to the intersection where the ground levels off a bit and found men of the 3rd Platoon setting up a defense centering on the hill just south of the intersection.
The 1st and 2nd continue down to Troop HQ to get new orders – the 3rd hopes to bottle up the German advance on the track as it comes down the steep hill to give them the time they need.
Back up on the hill, the 2nd Sturm Platoon has shown up along with Co. HQ. The 2iC is put in charge of the Rifle Platoon and begins work sorting them out. The 1st Sturm Platoon is told to follow the 2nd as it moves into the lead of the advance. At the first bend the 1st is detached to check out/clear the spur, and then join the 2nd as it makes its way down the track.
The clock ticks past the top of the day’s seventh hour as the German 2nd Platoon turns east at the next intersection, and where the sun will rise (in around a half hour) can clearly be picked out above the shadows of the peaks on the horizon ahead of them as the Germans wind their way cautiously down the steep track…
— Intergame D —
The sun comes up soon after the shooting stops, and both sides take time to assess how their forces have fared through the night.
The American Troop Commander -while not thrilled with suffering 10% casualties- feels his men have done well so far. The loss of four machineguns (and an armored car!) won’t look good in his report (or for any promotions the responsible Platoon Leaders may seek…) but all in all he thinks he’s fulfilled his orders, and is happy to see the minutes tick by to 0800 without further sound of gunfire from the north.
The first unit recovered and ready for orders is the 2nd Platoon (i.e.: The Leader who lost his M8 wants to get away from the glare of the Troop CO…) and is sent over to cover the track that branches to the west from the currently-contested intersection. The 1st Platoon is organized soon after, and is ordered back up the track to prepare a position on the next hill south of the intersection so that the 3rd can fall back through them should the need arise.
Good news comes after the hour strikes with the arrival of a Platoon Leader from the 19th AIB, who informs the Troop CO that the defense west of Mouterhouse is (mostly) set and that he can withdraw at 0900.
The Infantry Lieutenant agrees to motor up the track to help the Recon men move back (or provide cover for a withdrawal under fire…), and the Troop HQ -figuring that this next fight, if it comes soon, should be the last required- begins getting their gear ready to move out.
The time has been granted to the Americans by the German’s need for a rather complicated reorganization. When the 1st Sturm Platoon hurried down the track to the sound of fighting they were met by the confused men of the 2nd whose leader had fallen at the bottom of the hill. It wasn’t until the Company CO came on the scene (with the 2iC leading the Rifle Platoon) that some order was restored, men and units were restructured, and a new attack plan was made.
The 1st Sturm Platoon ceased to exist: It’s Leader was put in charge of the 2nd Platoon (bringing along the captured 50-cal and filling in the depleted ranks of the assault gruppe) while its rifle grenadiers and LMG gruppe were transfered as replacements to the Rifle Platoon that -in addition to the casualties suffered- was less three men who had been found to have the talent necessary to…
…crew the Company’s latest toy: The M8 left stuck up the hill by the American 2nd Platoon.
It will join the Sturm Platoon (overseen by the Company CO) in attacking down the track again while the Rifle Platoon is sent back up and around to the other (eastern) flank of the hill…
…which will allow the attack to come at two sides of the American’s defenses.
The 2iC is told the attack will jump off at 0830, and he hustles away with his men.
The dice favor serendipity as the disparate preparations and movements of the two sides fall into place just as the clock’s hands move to the bottom of the hour…
Finally done! Note to self: Don’t wait weeks after a game is done and the table torn down to write the AAR.
- To supply some sort of (reasonable?) rationalization for the campaign that will help to guide the actions of the attackers, the German Company is considered to be just one of many moving south in the area with an eye towards taking/securing the valley road that runs through Mouterhouse. Though the ridgeline track they are using has no value as a major route of advance for follow-on units, it may prove to be the means to capture the town.
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