Battles from the Bulge AAR Part 4

It’s 06:00 on Day 2 and this is Part 4, the conclusion of my AAR.

 

As dawn arrives so do the lead elements of the 501^st Airborne.  That’s good news, but it’s only the HQ and when I break out the time measurement tool to determine how long it will take a non-motorized unit to reach Antoniushaff it appears three hours and twelve minutes is the expected ETA from Bastogne. 

Again it’s a case of Good News-Bad News.  The good news is that reinforcements are coming. The bad news it that they’re going to take some time to get into a position to help.  I pushed my troops to the limits last night. I’m not sure if I really got the better of the Germans or whether they got the better of me.  As daylight arrives I’ll have a better idea.  I gave the Germans a good pounding, but my troops are tired and shot up. 

Just because they succeeded as a roadblock through Day 1 doesn’t mean they won’t become roadkill on Day 2.  Upon ending Part 3 I was feeling mighty good, but as Part 4 opens, my optimism lessens.  I’ve pushed my troops hard.  Maybe too hard.  The Win-Lose meter is tilting toward a win, but if my troops break before the 501^st arrives there will be little to stop them.

Reluctantly I unpause the game and see how the day unfolds. 

At 6:14 bad news arrives.  My mortar platoon being attacked at Wincrange has surrendered.  I was moving a unit to support it, but it was a long way from arriving.  My loss is not welcome.  As my confidence flags my tenacity takes hold.  I’ve cast the die.  We shall see how it lands.

My mortar platoons at Wincrange.

By 06:42 a nasty firefight is well underway in the woods north of Hardt.  Several German units attempting to take out the 109^th Field Artillery Batallion have been met by a company of infantry and two platoons of engineers.  It’s not the kind of odds I’d like to see, but we seem to be holding our own.  The fight for Antoniushaff is still up in the air.  My units are reorganized and fighting hard, but I don’t know how many more German units are hidden in the night waiting to come after me when the sun rises.

This is my first clue that things may be going wrong.  I've seen attacks where the arrows are:

Wincrange, Hardt, and Longvilly. 

Meanwhile at Wincrange I have another platoon of mortars threatened by a Stug company.  However, I have a platoon of tank destroyers now closing in on the area.  This could prove to be a good fight.

By 07:07 I learn another of my tank companies has surrendered.  I think it is one that was badly worn down and had lost all but two Jumbos.  Nevertheless it is still bad news.  However, I have more paratroopers who have arrived and I give them orders to assault the Germans who are harassing my rear.  The units at Antoniushaff will have to make due with what they have for now. 

 

As the sun rises the carnage increases.  Several units surrender – more of mine than German.  By 08:10 this is (I think) the third platoon or company to surrender.  The fight for Antoniushaff is tooth and nail.

The crosses denote surrendered/lost units. 

09:00 arrives and while the Win-Lose meter is pointing in my favor, I’m thinking this is a first-class mess.  Antoniushaff has held as a major roadblock, but there are scattered German elements all along the road to Bastogne, and they are nipping at the heels of every rear echelon unit I have.  Fortunately the 501^st and 506^th Airborne have arrived and are making progress.  I’ve let the AI determine their path and they have selected one that will secure a number of objectives that, wisely I think, are worth the delay in terms of time to final objective.  Although I’d rather drive every last German unit behind my lines back to Clerveax, the fact is, capturing lesser objectives is going to mean more victory points for me and a better end result for the scenario.

Major reinforcements arrive! 

In a word:  the AI has seen something I haven’t. I’m impressed.

Unpausing, I continue.

At 10:04 I am amazed to look around and see few German combat units.  I see more command units than I expect and I have to wonder if we’ve fought them off or if they’re racing around me to attempt to seize victory locations.  At this point in the game I’m inclined to relax and let the AI fight the game for me.  My Airborne relief has its orders.  Now it’s time to let them do their job.  I sit back, increase the game speed to maximum, and let the game do its thing.  At this point it the game becomes less a game and more like a movie as I watch my plans unfold.  I intend to pause the game and micromanage where needed, but for now, it’s a free ride.  I can’t say I’m totally relaxed – the game is still mine to lose.  But I think the momentum has moved to my favor.

 

Let’s see how it goes.

At 10:51 the 2^nd Battalion of the 506^th arrives.  As my earlier Airborne units race north and through the center of the map, I’ll direct these to fight the German units threatening Bastogne.  There are three German companies near Bizory that need a good pounding.  It’ll be the 2^nd 506^th which will do it.

 

A minute later, of course, the airstrike I might have enjoyed was cancelled due to weather.  Since it’s never shown up, I really don’t miss it.  But that’s how it goes. 

The situation as Noon approaches.

I let the game progress.  At 13:14 I get surprising news: C Company of the 501^st Airborne has surrendered!  The Win-Lose meter still points in my favor, but Lord knows this looks like a mess from my perspective. 

By about 14:30 I’ve lost contact with a number of German units near Bastogne.  Probably they’ve taken a licking and are pulling back, but there is no question this is still one heck of a fight.  I am impressed by the punishment my troops are taking.  I hope they hold a bit longer.

 

At about 15:51 I see a lone German infantry company, the 7^th Company of the 902^nd  Panzer Grenadier Regiment taking a pounding from my Airborne moving up the road.  I wonder to myself how long it will last, cut off and far from home. 

As the day draws to a close, I check the clock.  It’s 16:38 and I see Germans all over the village of Bizory. My Airborne units are giving better than they’re getting but we’re being swarmed.  There is no more “front”. It’s just a swirling tangle of firefights. 

The battle at Bizory. 

As I consider the situation: Roadblock, Speedbump, or Roadkill, the Win-Lose meter tells me it’s still a “roadblock”, but I’m not convinced.  This isn’t pretty despite what the points say.  I’m hoping the map gets cleaner, but I’m not confident.  Checking the reinforcement schedule, it looks like I’ve received all the troops I’m going to get. From here on out, I’m on my own.

It’s now seven o’clock and as the sun goes down, the Germans disappear.  They fight hard during the day, but at night I lose contact. This is interesting.

 

Around seven thirty for some reason I pause the game and start toying with the views to see where victory objectives are.  I guess the AI moving to capture some got me looking around the map, and I can’t see one at Antoniushaff with the units on the map.  I find the button that toggles the units off and look around.  Behold, there is no victory location at Antoniushaff!

The case of the disappearing objectives... 

Either I have misread the scenario or not read enough about how the game handles victory locations.  It appears that one of two things has happened:  I have either permanently lost Antoniushaff as a victory location when TF Rose was driven off of it, or at some point in the game it expired.  The result is that I’ve had countless units fighting for an objective that seems to no longer exist. 

This is mildly frustrating to me but might work to my advantage.  It’s already dark.  I might as well withdraw those units on Antoniushaff and consolidate my position further west.  Given the relatively thin north-south axis of the map (9 km) and my historical knowledge that Bastogne will be surrounded, I conclude the scenario probably encourages me to slowly fall back, rather than block the road in the northeast for the entire game.

Nevertheless I’m going to re-read my briefing now and see if I’ve overlooked something.

As I re-read the historical text and the scenario briefing the only clear orders I have been given are to hold Noville and Bastogne at “all costs”.

Fair enough.  I suppose picking a fight over Antoniushaff was destined to fail.  Fair enough.  I toggle the units back on the map and begin to order the withdrawal.

It’s now 02:26 on Day 3, and there are ten hours to go in the scenario.  All the units around Antoniushaff that were ordered to withdraw have instead decided to nap.  Deserved or not they are going nowhere.

The majority of the action are fights around three towns:  Bizory to the southwest, Noville to the northwest, and Bourcey in the north-center of the map.  All three are victory objectives that are important for me to secure.  Noting that my Win-Lose meter is trickling away from a solid “win” I continue to watch my plans unfold.  I have slightly adjusted some attack orders, but mostly things are unchanged.  The ace in the hole are my battalions of field artillery.  I’m letting them get some rest.  The next few daylight hours are going to place some serious demands on them.

At 07:03 dawn breaks and I can see more.  Now is the time for artillery to earn its stripes.  The battle for Bourcey is fierce, with many German units contesting it.  But they are bunched together in a perfect cluster that is inviting my attention.  They receive it.

 

Then at 07:22 the Germans have suddenly realized the way is open to Bastogne!  I have nothing other than some HQ units stationed there and an infantry company is probing it.  Hmmm.  What to do?

 

The airborne units contesting Bizory are now tasked with moving to intercept those approaching Bastogne.  I’ll figure out some other units to occupy Bizory.

At 11:57 I receive notice that we’ve secured Foy. I believe the scenario ends in three minutes, but I immediately order half the troops at Foy to move down to Bastogne.  It would appear as though my two primary objectives – securing Bastogne and Noville are going to go unfulfilled.  I’m still slightly ahead in the Win-Loss meter, but not be enough to justify the present mess I have on my hands.  This is looking like I’ve screwed up, but let’s see how the game calls it.  I continue to pour as much artillery on the Germans near Bastogne as I can.  Hopefully they’ll get discouraged and leave.

I take Foy. 

12:10 rolls by and the scenario hasn’t ended yet.  I still have hope of crushing the Germans at Bastogne!  (Actually it is another problem of me not fully comprehending the scenario briefing - it expires at 18:00.)

 

The situation at 12:10.

Then at 12:19 E Company of the 501^st surrenders!  I quickly double check to confirm this isn’t the Band of Brothers company – it isn’t.  That’s the 506^th, who are presently slugging it out on the road between Bizory and Bastogne – and out of ammo. 

Then at 12:29 a miracle!  An airstrike is available.  I point it to the cluster of Germans with vengeance.  The unit routs and Bastogne appears to be back in my hands!  For how long remains to be seen but once again the Win-Loss meter heads in my favor.  Wow.  This is a nailbiter of a game. 

And then jut as quickly I lose Bastogne again.  12:49 and this is a toss up.  Time for more artillery.

Bastogne looks like it's in trouble.

A quick look at the game and it appears as though we’re not in overtime – it runs until 18:00.  Now is only 13:01, and elements of the 501^st are moving down from Foy.  I might still pull out a win.

By 15:45 red and yellow alert messages are scrolling all over the screen telling me there is no more pushing most of the 1^st Batallion of the 501^st.  They’re exhausted and going no further. 

Fatigue catches up with me. 

Then, precisely at 18:01, the game ends.  General Omar Bradley writes me a letter commending me for my performance.  He recommends me for a promotion and tells me that while the situation is still in some doubt; I have performed well, having pulled out a Marginal Victory.

The situation with 25 minutes to go in the game. 

Personally, I am not pleased.  I should have kept better watch on my objectives.  I thought I could hold the Germans in the northeast, but against my prediction, significant numbers of Germans slipped under Antoniushaff’s southern flank and penetrated deeply into my rear.  They did exactly what I had planned at the start, but unfortunately took much longer than anticipated, by which time I had become overaggressive and tried to keep them bottled to the northeast. 

The terrain to the southeast was not prohibitively rough, and as a consequence the AI infiltrated a significant force inside my lines and put up a hell of a fight.  Cleaning up this mess surrounded by Germans may prove disastrous, depending on the surrounding situation.  Perhaps I did well, but I am not convinced.  The fault does not lie with the troops under my command – they did everything I asked of them for longer than I could have ever hoped.  As goofy as that might sound, that is precisely the impression I have from the game.  The battered troops which defended Antoniushaff weathered days of tough fighting.  How they held out without more breaking is something that generates respect from me.  The game actually feels that real. 

It would be nice if I could continue to play the scenario based on linked campaigns.  That’s probably too much to ask, but I would have loved to see where things went from here.  For now I’ll have to take heart that a Marginal Victory is better than a loss.  But handing the Germans a crushing defeat didn’t happen, and that’s what I’d truly rather have in hand right now.  But as I said in the opening of Part 3, you can’t always get what you want.

General Bradley sends his regards.