Stolberg Corridor - Day Six

September the 18th 1944.  The newly arrived German 12th Infantry Division along with the somewhat mauled 6th Panzer keep up the pressure on the US 3rd Armoured which is much reduced after five days of constant fighting.

The US start to pull back.

The Germans try to maintain contact.

We moved the playing area two hexes and Stolberg is back on the table.

Eschweiler has been retaken, after it was abandoned by the US.

Grenadiers of the 12th Infantry attack some of the shaken US infantry 

holding the heights near Mausbach on the German left.

While the Germans feel they have a numerical advantage, most of their units are no longer fresh.

That makes sustaining an offensive tricky.

However, they do have a preponderance of artillery now.

A massed attack all along the line.

Bloody noses on the left and right,

but success in the centre.

The Germans keep up the pressure on the US centre.

Making multiple attacks on the centre against the weakened US troops.

And then a breakthrough!

But in what otherwise could have been a devastating blow to the US,

the Germans run into a solid gun line and are driven off.

The situation during the night with units being reorganised.

Two US units are limping back to help defend Stolberg.

In some ways this game is a playtest of this scenario for Rommel.  The base material is sound and the adaption for Rommel was straightforward.  The allocation of Support Points and perhaps some aspects of available events and tactics could be altered along with which side goes first, but as it is, it is certainly producing some interesting challenges for both sides.  The situation with the availability of and the restrictions that apply to the RCT from the 1st US Division is also a bit arbitrary

The next day will see the playing area move another two hexes to cover all of Stolberg but also bring in the US 1st Division troops that are occupying the heights shielding Aachen (hex row 14, bottom left-hand corner).

Note that the orientation is the reverse of the above images of the game.

The Germans have reached hex row 18, but also the hill on row 18 where they had their breakthrough and have infiltrated as far as Vicht (row15).