US Defence of Elsenborn Ridge

[MikeJ19]

Overall, the situation looks like this....

[MikeJ19]

What to do next
I’m concerned that the enemy may skirted south and bypassed my forces towards the exits
Although, I’m pretty sure that it would be a small force.
Need to move some forces to cover routes to exit - 2nd Bn 26 Regt could do this task

The forces in Hunningen and Murringen need to be relieved
Could move 1st Bn 26 Regt into Hunningen to relieve the Bn there
The relieved Bn could move to Bullingen to recover while still providing depth

Reinforcements in the North could be sent to relieve the 2 Bns in RK
The Bns in RK could move back to recover on the Ridge

I could counter attack in the north to establish defence line back in the woods

What are the Germans going to do?

Reinforce the forces in front of RK to break through towards Elsenborn and the exits

Reinforce the forces in the south to break through to try and get forces to exit in south and then the northern exits

Attack on both fronts and reinforce success, this is a balanced approach

My decision ...

[MikeJ19]

An additional note. I'm surprised that the Germans did not push their attacks harder - many of them seemed to stall on the approach to the towns. I had this happen a couple of times when I was playing the German.

I find it hard as the defender to not counter attack - I want to transition to offence.

I will post more tonight, hopefully.

Have a good day,

Mike

[dazkaz15]

When you post your images would you consider having the intel set to Recent instead of Current please mate?
It gives the viewer a better idea of the situation Enemy forces I find.

[MikeJ19]

Daz,

Good idea. I will try that for my next AAR. I have finished this scenario - just posting the info when I have time.

[MikeJ19]

D2 2200 – Germans

I expect the Germans to try and make a push/run for the southern exits – they only have 10 hours left until they close.

I expect another push in the area of RK and likewise in Murringen.

They may try to bypass RK to the south - this would not be easy, but maybe more feasible then to the North

D2 2200 – Overall situation

My front has stabilized. I’ve built depth in the North and I’m reinforcing the deployment in the South

I have lots of Artillery resources – mainly deployed along the Elsenborn Ridge

I’m expecting a couple of more Bns to arrive in the next 24 hours. I will see what the situation is in the morning before deciding where they should go.

[MikeJ19]

Morning on D3

[MikeJ19]

D3 0700 – Germans

Their push seems to be in the South along the main east-west highway
Their lead forces are tired, but still strong
Push towards RK is very slow


D3 0700 Overall Situation

North is stable
Threat is in the South

I’m going to continue to move forces from the North to the South.
3 Bn 9 Regt is going to move South

May look at pulling a Bn from the forces to the North of RK and move it south as well.

[MikeJ19]

D3 1830

[MikeJ19]

D3 1830 Overall Situation

Stable North still
South is a challenge
Moving forces to provide depth in South.
Would love more ammo for my Arty units

[MikeJ19]

D4 Morning

[MikeJ19]

D4 0700 Overall

About 17 hours to go and I’m under lots of pressure in the South. Although, many of the German unit are very tired

I think that there is enough depth to hold here.

If I lose the RK objective, I will counter attack or reinforce it to seize it again
Otherwise, holding firm is the goal.

[MikeJ19]

D4 Game almost over....

[MikeJ19]

D4 1800 Overall
I expect a push on RK and maybe on Bullingen. I have already tasked two Bns to reinforce RK and I may task Tk Bn to move towards Bullingen

I hope the arty and Inf Bn can hold the German push on Butgenbach

[MikeJ19]

Game Over

[MikeJ19]

Marginal Victory

A little disappointing...

[MikeJ19]

What went well

I stuck to my initial plan for a long time
I think that was a good plan, it might have been better not to have given up the defense in the woods North of Losheimergraben the first night
That seemed to open the door to the Germans sending troops South

Mission Analysis
I continually looked at the situation to see if it had changed
When it had, I made changes to my plan

Depth in defence
As often as possible, I planned my defence in layers and stuck to it
This meant that when the Germans had success in one place, they did not completely overrun my defence.

Things to Improve

Better utilization of forces
I did not keep Regts together enough, which meant that I did not use some of the Regimental resources very well
I need to think about groupings better
I have using the Bn as they come, not regrouping a tk coy with an Inf Bn

Tracking of the enemy
I had no idea that the Germans had swung most of their forces towards the South. If I had better knowledge of the enemy I could have made better decisions

Decision making on when to withdraw
I lost or stranded 2 Bns in the south, this could have been more damaging.
This is very difficult to plan and harder still to execute

Use of ground
I had too many positions that could be seen for miles
Need to get better at reading the ground and placing units into reverse slope or similar locations


Other random points

Artillery
German fire support really wore out my troops

Routing
Some of my forces routed for many kms and for a long time

[MikeJ19]

Final Thoughts

It was very interesting trying to defend in this scenario. I'm surprised that the Germans did not push harder. Knowing that the Germans needed to get points by exiting, made my planning a little more focused.

They were many times were I was not sure if I could hold off the Germans. This made the scenario more fun - I'm looking for a challenge.

I would like feedback on the AAR - is it too much info? Or not enough? Daz has already mentioned that I should take the screen shots with "recent" Int setting on - I will try to do that next time.

I'm looking at the Loshiem Gap scenario next.

All the best,

Mike

[dazkaz15]

Well played mate [:)]

You did well to keep Peiper from his exit, with Murringen in such a bad way.
I was quite concerned you were going to end up in a big pincer.
West of Murringen was open it looked like to me at one time, with just a few support, units and Bases in Bullingen.
Of course they had no way of knowing that though.

The gamble payed off, well done.

[MikeJ19]

Thanks Daz,

I was also surprised that I did not end up getting run over. If the Germans had pushed a little faster, the outcome would have been very different.

Have a good day,

Mike