Prelude to Catastrophe*
(Revised for V4)*
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Date: January 16, 1945*
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Battle Type: US Assault vs German Defend*
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Design: Bill Wilson*
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Briefing from Division HQ:*
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"The Germans have established a bridgehead across the Rhine in the Gambsheim - Herrlisheim area.  Your mission is to collapse the German bridgehead and throw them back across the Rhine!"*
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"You have these forces to accomplish the following missions:"*
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"66th Armored Infantry Battalion will clear the Steinwald woods."*
"17th Armored Infantry and 43rd Tank Battalions will capture Offendorf."*
"56th Armored Infantry and 714th Tank Battalions will capture Herrlisheim from the north."*
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"The Germans are a mob of dispirited Volkssturm.  We estimate there are no more than a few thousand of them.  Do not let them hold you up!  We need to lance this boil before it becomes truly dangerous."*
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  -- Despite the reassurances of HQ that the Germans are a second-rate force, you have misgivings.  Combat Command B already fought them last week.  Rumor has it the 56th AIB and the 714th Tank Bn have become gun-shy and took heavy losses in Herrlisheim.  There is another rumor that SS troops were encountered.  To cap it all, your own scouts insist the Germans are present in greater strength than division is giving them credit for.*
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The tank bridge over the Zorn was completed first, and LTC Nick Novosel has taken his tankers of the 43rd forward towards Offendorf.  The infantry bridge for the 17th AIB has just been completed.*
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Game Note: The US has barge carrier units.  The barges represent the ability of engineers to improvise foot bridges and crossings for vehicles in a relatively brief span of time.  These will be useful if the German players succeeds in destroying any of the bridges with artillery fire.*
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Historical Outcome: Within two days, the 43rd Tank Battalion was wiped out near the Herrlisheim railway station and the 17th Armored Infantry Battalion had so few surviving troops that it became combat non-effective.  LTC Novosel of the 43rd Tank Battalion was wounded in action seventeen times during the battle.  The 66th Armored Infantry Battalion also suffered badly in its assault against the Steinwald.  These losses, coupled with the rough handling given the 56th Armored Infantry Battalion in the first Herrlisheim assault, meant that four of six maneuver battalions in the 12th Armored Division had either been destroyed or rendered non-effective.  Such was the ferocity of the fighting in Alsace in 1945.  Herrlisheim was finally retaken by U.S. cavalry troops in February, 1945.  The astute player will note the 10. SS PzD has captured Shermans in another SPWW2 scenario "Frundsberg's End".  These Shermans were captured from the 43rd Tank Battalion by the 10. SS PzD at Herrlisheim.*
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Unit Abbreviations:*
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AD - Armored Divison*
AEB - Armd. Engineer Battalion*
AFA - Armd. Field Artillery*
AIB - Armd. Infantry Battalion*
AR - Artillery Regiment*
AT - Anti-Tank*
CCA - Combat Command A*
DIV - Division*
ELM - Elements*
FLAK ABT - Anti-Aircraft Battalion*
PZ ART - Panzer Artillery*
PZAUFKL - Armored Recon Battalion*
PZD - Panzer Division*
PzJgAbt - Anti-Tank Battalion*
SSPZR - SS Panzer Regiment*
TB - Tank Battalion*
USAAF - U.S. Army Air Force*
VGD - Volksgrenadier Division*
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Sources:*
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"Infantry in WWII" (G. Nafziger)*
"Order of Battle:WWII" (S. Stanton)*
"Panzers and Artillery" (G. Nafziger)*
"Riviera to the Rhine" (US Army)*
"The Other Side of Time" (B. Phibbs)*
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