December 19 AM

 

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"SS Cavalry..."

German 19 AM Allied 19 AM  

Ger19AMAdvance.jpg (271185 bytes)The Germans are confronted yet again with a puncture proof Allied defense.  The good news is that 2nd SS Panzer Korps is on the march and should be able to provide a nice threat on 19PM.  (2SS Pz went to 6th Army while 9SS Pz went to 5th Army.)  I'm not happy about the commitment of so many forces to the Eupen area and will be shifting them out.  US Paratroopers will be making their presence felt in the center and south and the result will be that many attacks will not get an ER modifier shift.  Randy's units seem to be digging in too so I really need to put some heat on!  No exciting attacks, all of them relatively low and, as always, I'm hoping for attrition.

Post-Combat Comments:  Wow.  Great results with 5 US steps eliminated.  (All three units of the US 7th Armored were reduced!) The cost, beyond the 4 German steps also eliminated, was that very little ground was gained.  I don't think I'm worried about that too much as, at some point, I expect the US to scamper away and at that point I should be gobbling up territory.  Now that Bastogne is 'officially' surrounded, I have to start thinking about a potential assault.  As my record shows, I'm not averse to assaulting it late.  Or avoiding it altogether!  Randy has it fully defended so my assault will probably involve a full Panzer Korps with a maximum bombardment effort.  My decision will probably be based on the rest of the map and not any specific attack plan.  The next three turns will be critical as I feel I must really 'turn the corner' on inflicting US casualties; the Allies still have a lot of units for this stage of the game and can easily cork up my march westwards....

--Tom

US19AMAdvance.jpg (274347 bytes)Tom sounds almost too embarrassed to expound on the 19AM combat results - 7 relatively low odds attacks, to include five 2-1's and 1-1's all resulting in Firefights. The Allied field force is now fairly brittle and fast approaching a crossroads in the need for a change in strategy. Not only will this make a stiffening of the defense less of a possibility, but it will mean not being able to create a counterattack reserve with the soon to arrive U.S. 3rd Armor. Splitting up the division to throw in as a fire brigade will no doubt be its fate.

It's time to gamble with the American defense. The weight of IISS Panzer Corps is about to be unleashed. As Bob Ryan pointed out in his recent posting, the Germans need to start giving serious consideration to heading due West and quickly breaching the Ourthe River Line. This is the absolute last turn I can hang on to Eupen without giving up its defenders to a surrounded position. U.S. 9/39 will have to be backed off on its Northern flank. I am going to give Tom a 1/3 chance of surrounding Eupen and its gallant defenders, but it will take a good part of the SS armor to pull it off, armor which may be better utilized heading NW of Vielsalm and attacking toward Werbomont. If the 1/3 chance against Eupen fails, it will leave Tom behind the 8 ball on his time schedule. If he succeeds, it may very well take another turn to digest the defenders. By then, he may be looking at sundown on the 20th. I reiterate that my big ace in hand is my artillery arm. Alas, one beleaguered artillery unit is out of position near La Roche. It will take some careful manipulation over the next turn or two to extricate it. In closing, I will take the opportunity to sting a couple of lone German infantry with counterattacks, albeit of little significance at this time.

Allied 19AM combat results just rolled in and the pesky German infantry ran away on a 7-1(-1). (I hope that's not a harbinger of what's to come.) However, the bright spot is a key bridge at hex 3023 was blown. I'm anxiously waiting to see if Tom interprets Eupen as a trap or as opportunity.

-- Randy

LQ Rating:  1.85 LQ Rating:  3.75
Public Comments:

It appears to be pretty close, but why has the German committed so much strength at Eupen? -- Head West Tom!

--  Bob Ryan

German Combat

Red = Outcome (LQ Rating)   Blue = German unit   Green = Allied Unit

1908:  Adj + 388 Art (40) vs 8 + 187A (13) @2-1(-1) = 5 = 4 = FF (1)
    Reduce 7/CCA, Reduce 18/294

1706:  Adj (41) vs 3 + 190,406A (13) @2-1(-2) = 1 = D4 (3.5)
    30/119(r) to 2106; 1SS/1 to 1705; Peiper, 277/990 to 1706;
    1SS/2, 326/753(r) to 1806

2112:  Adj (33) vs 6 + 333A (11) @2-1 = 4 = FF (1)
    Reduce 1/26; Reduce 3/5

2617:  Adj (30) vs 5 + 402A (10)@2-1(-2) = 2 = 0 = D3 (3.5)
    28/110 to 2917; 116/60 to 2617; 116/156, 2/304 to 2618

2622:  Adj + 401,406,766A (52) vs 8 + 174A @3-1(-2) = 1 = -1 = 1D1 (1)
    Reduce 7/CCB, retreat to 2722; Lehr/902, Lehr/Recon, 212/316 to 2622

2631:  2532 + 2/3 (25) vs 8 @2-1 = 4 = FF (2)
    Reduce 101/506; Reduce 212/320

1503:  Adj vs 22 @1-1 = 3 = FF (1)
    Reduce 7/CCR; Reduce 326/751

Allied Combat

2415:  10/CCA, 1/26(r), 333 (16) vs 560/1128 (3) 4-1(-1) = 4 = D3 (4.5)

    560/1128 to 2216

1807:  7/CCA(r), 187, 190 (14) vs *277/991 (2) 7-1(-1) = 6 = 5 = D4 (6)

   277/991(r) to 1809

Bridge Demolitions

1403 (1-3) = 6 (4.5)    *Fizzle*
1603 (1-4) = 4 (2.5)    Boom!
2111 (1-4) = 2 (2.5)    Boom!
3023 (1-4) = 1 (2.5)    Boom!