82nd Airborne vs Korps Feldt: The Empire Strikes Back

If the last few posts weren't a clear indicator already, I've been hooked on the Grand Tactical Series by MMP of late and its chit-pull system. This month has been busier, sadly -- don't ask me why though, I haven't done anything this month -- so I haven't had much time to get nearly as many games in as I would have liked. That said, I managed to complete the next intermediate game in The Devil's Cauldron: the Empire Strikes Back.

The American Objective: hold the 82nd's landing and drop zones until the next wave arrives.

At scenario start, the majority of the 82nd Airborne Division's 505st Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) is spread out east of hell's highway, protecting the advance of the British armor. Elements of the 508th PIR are stationed nearby to support the 505th, but their only substantial numbers are slated to enter as reinforcements as the German attack begins.

The American positions (sparse at best)

Three locations command relevance to the scenario, two of them demarking the outskirts of the 82nd's defense. The town of Groesbeek lies directly west of hell's highway, anchored by independent engineer and heavy weapons elements, and supported by D company of the 508th's 2nd battalion. To the south of Groesbeek is Riethorst, anchoring the southern corner of the 82nds drop zones. It's the underbelly of 82nd's defense, held by little more than rearguards and hastily constructed roadblocks. 3nd battalion 505th starts the scenario between the two towns. The third and final location, and German objective, is the town of Mook, held by the 1st battalion 505th. 

A battery of artillery and another isolated company of the 508th begins the scenario in the vicinity of Groesbeek, in the wooded heights between the town and the highway.

If the American positions seem hastily organized, the Germans attack at dawn on the 18th of September, in force and organized. Three Kampfgruppen of Korps Feldt arrive on the roads to Riethorst and Groesbeek, spoling for a fight. KGs Goebel (fielding ersatz battalion 39 and a security battalion) and Greschick (fortress defenders) field a mass of 2nd line infantry companies. KG Becker, on the other hand, fields a crack battalion of German assault infantry supported by armored reconnaissance, AA, and ersatz assault guns. Arriving directly to the east, KGs Becker and Greschick move in a pincer to seize Groesbeek. Becker's armored reconnaissance flank far to the north of the town, opening up a third line of advance. Simultaneously, along the Maas, KG Goebel arrives in force, moving on Riethorst. 

Korps Feldt drives two pincers on Groesbeek ...

82nd Division's activation chit is pulled next and the paras race to occupy defensive positions. 3nd battalion, 505th races north into Groesbeek. Independent elements of the division, spread throughout the town, relocate north around the central defensive positions of D company, 508th. And in Mook, the 1st battalion 505th moves south towards Riethorst.

Most of the companies arrive in their positions on time. In Riethorst, Colonel Ekman force marches 1st battalion into position, but A company, leading the way, fails its troop quality check and instead receives a suppressed marker in the village. C company pushes ahead relieving the battalion's rearguard at "the Hill" outside Riethorst and B company is diverted a little ways down to the roadblock at Katerbosch.

And Kampfgruppe Goebel moves on Riethorst and Katerboch.

Allied direct command chit next allows the para's AT guns to move into position in time to cover the approach of KG Becker's armor on Groesbeek.

... to be then followed by the 505th PIR's activation chit. With that, I've hit the jackpot and gotten all of the division's activation chits, in play, activated before the Germans can continue the advance. With a 50/50 chance of success, A company rallies out of their suppression and moves onto the wooded heights protecting Riethorst. C Company constructs emplacements on "the Hill" and B company moves into Katerbosch. Strung out with KG Goebel on its way, Colonel Eckman's 1st battalion braces for impact.

In Groesbeek, 3rd battalion 505th consolidates a strong position for defense with the 508th and independent units holding the north. Also, in a reversal of judgement, F company from 2nd battalion 505th reverses course and races back south to support 1st battalion. They're a long way off, though.

The German direct command chit comes next. 4th Company, Ersatz Battalion No. 39 moves to the front of the assault line from the far rear. The way this is shaping up, it'll be numbers that serve the Germans best in this game. Only KG Becker can match the American quality and cohesion.

As 0900, KG Goebel moves into assault formation and the assault begins. Replacement Battalion 6 (LS6) moves on Katerboch. 2nd Company assembles just outside the town limits and comes under fire from B company, but they hold together and only incur light losses. Returning fire, they manage to break up the forward squads of B Company in return. Nearby, 3rd company LS6 overruns the rearguard defenders, performing the first mop up operation on the the road to Mook. Ersatz battalion 9 meanwhile approaches Reithorst from the East in the woods and the security regiment forms up along the southeast road.

The assault begins.

With the Allied direct command chit pulled next, F company, 2nd battalion 505th races south on the road to support and relieve B company at the far edge of the line. Division activation follows. F company streams into Katerboch, where B company manages to erect hasty improved positions under fire from LS6, to support 1st battalion and the Paras in Groesbeek manage to improve their positions as well.

The Katerboch and Riethorst defenses hold, for now, but the pressure starts mounting to the north.

Much to the relief of Colonel Lindquist and the companies of 508th PIR, the rest of 1st battalion arrives out of Nijmegen to cover the northern approaches open to KG Becker. To boot, the division receives an additional dispatch point and manages to get the 82nd Artillery chit into play for 1100 hours. The defense is looking solid at this stage. 

Von Fürstenberg's armor charges into the fray.

From Riethorst and Katerboch, 505th PIR takes Goebel's LS6 under fire. Without cover in the open, LS6 starts taking losses from concentrated mortar and machinegun fire.

Unfortunately for Korps Feldt, KG Goebel doesn't have an immediate response, but KG Becker does. The mechanized company under von Fürstenberg slips through the underbrush and thickets north of Groesbeek, severing 1st battalion 508th from the rest of the 82nd's defenders. Out of view from the AT guns, the armored infantry begin an assault on the north of the town, taking D Company 508th under heavy, concentrated fire from small arms, direct HE, and dual-purpose ordnance. Ordnance of all calibers slam into the stone houses on the north end of the town, and by a stroke of luck, the Paras weather the assault in their foxholes and behind their sandbags largely unharmed. The grenadiers and armor in front of them run helter-skelter reordering their ranks, but for the moment, the line holds.

As the hour approaches noon, the formations of Korps Feldt creep forward to put pressure on Groesbeek and Riethorst, and KG Greschick and the 82nd's artillery are called into action. 

Colonel Lindquist and C company charge into action.

Colonel Lindquist charges into action without waiting for the rest of his battalion to arrive. C company, 508th charges out from the Groesbeek heights and into the open to attack the exposed columns of KG Becker moving into position. The attack, though bold, falters as the paras descend from the slopes and fails on a natural 9 die-roll (automatic failure). 

The unthinkable!

But then, the unthinkable! The direct allied activation. Lindquist goes double or nothing, and it pays off with dividends. Company bonus achieved, they attack the lead company of Becker's infantry out in the open as they scramble out of column. With Lindquist leading the charge, the paras of C company rout Becker's lead company to a man. In a sudden whirlwind of dash and élan, nearly a hundred crack grenadiers are felled out in the open, and the rest sent on a route back to the rear. It's a natural 8 die roll on the infantry table. A catastrophic result and the worst possible loss for the Germans.

Meanwhile, on the south end of Groesbeek, Major Greschick's companies strike the sector held by 3rd battalion 505th, taking the American-held town in pincer. Under cover of mortar fire, four fortress companies strike the positions of H Company 505th holding the Old South Mill. As with the forces under LW Oberst Becker, Greschick's infantry are unable to find a viable entrance to the town and must content themselves with skirmishing at the outskirts. Fire from the Mill keeps the fortress infantry preoccupied as they seek for a weakness in the American defense to exploit, but alas, as the hour strikes noon, no headway into Groesbeek has been made.

As the battle intensifies, the paras at the north end of the town attempt to make contact with 376th Field Artillery battalion to call in fire support, but the first radio attempt fails. On the opposite side of the Groesbeek heights, the artillerymen of the 376th eagerly await calls for indirect fire that -- for now -- don't come.

Greschick's fortress infantry begin sustaining casualties out in the open from Eckman's men as they search for a way into the town, but luckily their attack on H company 505th provides enough suppressing fire to avoid catastrophic losses. The replacements of LS6 are not so fortunate, though. The paras in Katerbosch manage to finish off one company and mortar fire from Riethorst suppresses a second company out in the open. Even still, under increasingly heavy fire from Eckman's 1st battalion, Hauptmann Goebel's replacements and ersatz grenadiers move forward to apply pressure on the Hill. The sporadic German fire is not really up to snuff with what Eckman's paras have been dishing out, but they begin to make headway in the woods cover the approach to Riethorst.

The battle for the Old South Mill and Groesbeek's north end reaches its zenith.

As the turn comes to a close, KG Becker goes all in on the attack on Groesbeek's north end. In an unconvincing feat of the panzergrenadier's offensive prowess, KG Becker's infantry (the finest companies on the field) fail to storm the old north mill, around which the paras of D company 508th and the division's engineers rallied. With enfilading machine guns covering the perpendicular approaches, Becker's infantry make initial headway at the cost of cohesion, but once in, the crossfire pins the forward squads and leaves them suppressed on the outskirts. Becker's 2nd and 3rd companies each suffer 2 cohesion hits and a suppression for no loss to the paras. It's a bloody nose for the Germans, and one more loss and it could turn catastrophic. 

By 1300, Greschick's fortress infantry again try to take the Old South Mill, but unsuccessfully. Their mortar fire is accurate and true, but as the infantry close, all available companies fail their bravery checks to carry the assault onto the para's improved positions. Finally, on the north end, however, a small breakthrough is achieved. 

The Germans are unlikely to secure Mook by the end of the scenario, so it's up to sudden death VPs to win the game. They need to eliminate 3 Allied steps to do that. KG Becker takes the charge. His infantry recovered from suppression, Becker sends the 2nd company around D company 508th's flank while 3rd company and the supporting armor give covering fire. In the assault, 3rd company is again suppressed in the open, but now in the streets of Groesbeek, 2nd company manages to surprise the defending engineers of the 82nd and eliminate them. Scratch one step for the Americans. The delaying fire from the engineers allows D company to shift its fire at the last moment and keep the panzer grenadiers of Becker's 2nd company from carrying the assault all the way to the mill. 

The paras aren't without an equal response, though. And what luck Becker's had suddenly dries up. From within the north mill, D company 508th's radio operator finally contacts the 376th artillery battalion and calls down an emergency fire mission. Suppressed and out in the open, Becker's 3rd company is annihilated in the rain of large-caliber shells. Massive plumes of earth and flesh pock mock the fields outside the north end of Groesbeek once the fire subsides. 

Kampfgruppe Becker, battered and bloody.

And then the 508th joins in on the action as everything begins to fall apart -- not that it was being held together by much at this point. Most of 1st battalion, under Lindquist's direction, charges ahead again into the fray, this time targeting von Fürstenberg's armor. Their small arms fire manage to break up several of the guns firing on D company holed up in the north mill, but their mortars inflict the real damage. von Fürstenberg's armored infantry are eliminated, leaving only the mobile ordnance, reconnaissance units, and ersatz armor unsupported.

Not to be left out in the actions routing Korps Feldt from the field, the 82nd Airborne's recon elements make a lighting thrust on Becker's last company, suppressed and badly disorganized. Passing their charge check, the recon units overrun the last of Becker's grenadiers. With that, the morale in Korps Feldt, which hung by thread since noon, plummets down to zero. Game over.

Battlefield overview at scenario end. Groesbeek: American. Riethorst: American. Katerboch: American. Mook: American. All German objectives failed.

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As one final, parting blow for the Germans, the 82nd Airborne's AT guns, trading direct fire with the independent AT elements of Korps Feldt, manage to knock out a unit of Paks as the Germans are routed from the field.

When the C-47s for the next paradrop come into view overhead, the situation on the ground in front of Groesbeek is the exact opposite of what's to be expected in this scenario. Hardly the strike that the "empire" envisioned in this scenario, "the Empire Strikes Back" has been turned by a counter back-hand blow. Even though the Germans have units in DZ/LZ T and LZ N, they're streaming back to the safety of German lines at this stage in the game. 

It seems like there was little chance, if any, of the Germans successfully reaching their objectives in this scenario. Fortune certainly favored the Allied activations on the first two turns though, so this could very well be the reason why. It's hard to assault entrenched paras with troop quality 2 & 3 infantry companies. At any rate, a very fun scenario. It's not as sexy as Easy Company's battle in Neunen or the Red Devil's race through Arnhem, but man oh man is this one no less interesting.