Autumn Fog - Allied

[MikeJ19]

The battle South of Roermond has been intense, with lots of attacks and movement on both sides. The German units up against the Brits near Sitard are all unsupplied at the moment. I will continue to push North

The 102nd and the Germans keep trading blows, and I will launch another set of attacks here.

The 29th is not going to push any farther North – I’m as close to Munchen Gladbach as I can get without trigger the withdrawal of the Brits. So, this division will try to finish off some German artillery units and then slowly extend their line East.

The 104th is .going to push towards Koln. I’m going to try and do this slowly, I do not need to overextend these forces.

The 84th has finished destroying a bunch of artillery units, so will move South and a little East. This should give me more depth in more attack South.

[MikeJ19]

I am close to completing the encirclement of the main German force. It is not going to be easy to actually achieve this. The Germans have responded with 2 strong divisions to prevent it.

I have completed the encirclement of the German forces near Hofen. I will continue with the 9th and 3rd Armd attempts to destroy these forces. The 78th is reorganizing after a busy morning. The 83rd is going to push South past the 8th in an attempt to link up with the 35th near Losheim.

The 2nd and 3rd Armd are going to keep pushing South and East. I want to seize Butgenbach and Krinkelt. Both these moves should hurt the German supply line and restrict German movement East.

This is starting to feel a little like the Falaise scenario, if I can cut off the retreating Germans, I should be able to destroy them piece meal.

[MikeJ19]

There was lots of movement of German troops eastward this afternoon. They do not have many good routes to go East, so it looks like there were lots of traffic jams.

The Germans also launched attacks South of Fraiture, towards Houffalize, at Trois Ponts and near St. Vith.

The 10th SS Pz Div remains in the Bleialf area and remains a threat for me. However, I think that I can push at least one Armd Div, likely the 9th, past them.

This afternoon, I’m going to try to push the 9th through the 35th and then NW towards Bullingen. This will not be achieved today, but maybe by noon tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the 11th Armd and 5th Inf will try to encircle parts of the 10th SS. Destroying the 10th SS would be a big coup.

The 4th Armd and 80th will hold for the most part.

In the West, I want to continue the push towards Fraiture and Salmchateau. The Germans still have a lot of powerful units in this area and I want to cut as many of them off as possible. If I can not achieve that, I want to slow down their withdrawal but grabbing key roads.

[MikeJ19]

In the South

[MikeJ19]

Not sure what triggered the withdrawal of the 2nd Br Army, but they are heading North and I will need to fill the gap. It is too bad that I did not get to use them during this battle. They would have been very helpful.

[sPzAbt653]

Not sure what triggered the withdrawal of the 2nd Br Army

Sorry you missed this in the briefing:

The British 2nd Army will withdraw if the Allies advance within 5 hexes of Monchen-Gladbach (65,5). This includes all British units. Historically, after the German offensive was stopped, the British moved thru the Roermond area and then off to the north. The northern part of the map area then became the responsibility of the US 9th Army.

[MikeJ19]

Steve,

Thanks, I knew that, but I did not think that I had gotten that close yet. No worries, the Brits have not done that much, but they loss means that I have to move some units around - and find a new reserve!

Here is the situation in the North.

[MikeJ19]

The situation near Hofen

[larryfulkerson]

Hey Mike....I just wanted to say one more time how much I like your AAR.
Especially all the detail you're including. Bravo.

[MikeJ19]

Larry,

Thank you very much. I am impressed and enjoy the variety of ways people do their AARs. I have not had enough game time lately, so I have not been reading many of the other AARs, but I look forward to seeing other posts more in the Fall.

All the best

[MikeJ19]

The situation in this area continues to evolve and the Germans must be getting nervous. In the West, I have cut off a number of units – and have a few of my own not being supplied – making for some interesting situations.

The Germans continue to attack in the Malmedy – Trois Ponts area gaining some ground. There has been lots of trading ground around St. Vith as well.

Overall, I would like to close the gap, or at least the road network out of the gap, today.

The 2nd and 7th Armd Divs are starting to get tired, so except for some mop up, they will pause today.

The 1st and 2nd Armd are in good shape for the most part and will try to push the Germans back over the river. This is not going to be easy as the Germans still have lots of quality units in the area.

The 30th is in good shape. They are about to become my reserve, which is going to be tricky as I need to extract them from the line. The brigades will start pulling back after launching some attacks at the cutoff German units in their sector.

The 106th is okay shape and will take over the line for the 30th. This division is not very powerful though and will be more of a holding force.

Surprisingly, the 82nd AB and 10th Armd are both in good shape. They will push eastward – with the 82nd taking some of the line from the 30th.

The 75th and 5th Armd are in okay shape and will focus on taking out the cutoff German forces in their area. I am close to destroying most of the Germans manoeuvre units West of Salmchateau.

The 101st AB will hold fast again today – they are in fine shape health wise. The 4th Armd and 80th are also fine health wise and will continue to exert pressure around St. Vith. St. Vith is a very important road node, so although I have not captured it, I am happy with these battles and cutting off some of the roads.

The 5th and 11th Armd are in good shape. They are going to focus on attacking individual units of the 10th SS Pz near Weissenhof. I want to weaken this unit and maybe cut off elements of it.

The 35th and 9th Armd are in very good shape. The 35th needs to hold firm, for the most part while the 9th Armd drives NW towards Bullingen. This is not going to be an easy push, but even gaining a couple of Km might cut off all the roads leading into the pocket, which should have a significant impact on German supplies. I will jockey some of the brigades in the 35th so that I can move a brigade North towards blue mark on the eastern edge of the map.

[MikeJ19]

I have a chance to destroy the 7th Army HQ, it is the HQ unit NW of Bollerdorf. I have it completely cut off. Hopefully, I will destroy it before noon. Otherwise, my units are going to hold on tight. The Germans did a bunch of attacks in this sector this morning, with little success. Right now, there is not much use trying to push East – I do not have the resources to make this happen.

The 26th, 28th and 4th are all in good health, which will only get better as they hold.

The 17th AB is my current reserve for the Southern part of the AO. As such it will remain near Longvilly. I wish it was a more mobile force, but I do not have any other unit that I can use at the moment.

I have two divisions at least a day away in the South. Finally, the 6th Armd has finished reorganizing in the far South. They are in the main defence line in the South, so while I thought about having them move North and replace them with the 87th, that started moving North yesterday afternoon, I’m going to leave them where they are for now.

[MikeJ19]

Well that went well. It seems that I have been successful in cutting the supply lines...

[MikeJ19]

The situation in the North. I do not think that 99th will arrive in time to hold the Germans, so it will be interesting to see what happens on the 30th!

[MikeJ19]

The situation near Elsenborn

[MikeJ19]

The Germans moved a lot of units eastward this afternoon. They have realized that they are trapped and that the attack is in serious jeopardy. Most of their movement was along the routes in the northern part of the area, as the roads around St. Vith are being pressured by my forces. I think that the Germans are going to try to break out near Prum as they are building up a significant force near Andler.

It is time for the 1st and 2nd Armd to start pushing South. I do not think they will have much success right away, but it will increase the pressure on the Germans and if I do advance, it will further restrict German movement. At least one Regt from the 2nd Armd will push SE out of Trois Ponts. This will cut another East-West road and further hamper the German efforts to escape.

The 30th will finish off one GR Deutsch Regt and then begin to move into a reserve position near Spa.

The 106th, 82nd AB, and the 10th Armd will continue to push East trying to destroy German units and restrict their movement. The 75th and 5th Armd are going to push towards Salmchateau, which will create a smaller pocket of trapped Germans.

The 101st is going to attack across the river and push NE along the river – the intent is to cause issues and to pressure the Germans. Meanwhile, the 4th Armd and 80th Inf are going to push into St. Vith and a little beyond.

The 5th and 11th Armd are going to destroy (well try to) the 10th SS Pz Regt SE of Weissenhof. The two divisions will also push towards Bleialf, and if possible towards Andler.

The 35th and 9th Armd are going to entrench in order to hold the door closed. I expect that in the morning the Germans will try to attack in the area from Loshiem South to Prum. My line is very narrow here, and I do not really have resources nearby to reinforce it, so the two divisions will have to hang tight.

In summary, I want to keep the escape route closed – which should also restrict supplies getting into the pocket. Additionally, I want to start pushing forward to make it harder for units to escape, by grabbing parts of the road network. Finally, I want to start the destruction of the units in the pocket. I’m still sure that the Germans are going to get a lot of the units out of the pocket, but I hope that the survivors are in poor shape and that I will be able to keep the pressure on so that they never really have time to recover.

[MikeJ19]

The situation in the South

[MikeJ19]

Here is the situation in the morning of the 30th.

[MikeJ19]

The Brits have left and my forces are very spread out across this sector. For some reason with the departure of the Brits, the supply situation changed and the German units in the West that were unsupplied are now supplied and my units in Roermond are unsupplied. I can understand the later, but I do not see a supply path for the Germans. Oh well, they will be surrounded again soon.

The 99th will continue to move North to link up with the elements in Roermond. The Canadian Bn remained as the Brits left.

The 102nd and 29th are going to work together to surround and destroy the German units in the centre.

A long ways away, the 104th has come up against resistance in Koln from some AA and garrison units. They are going to take their time to remove these units and secure the city.

[MikeJ19]

The situation near Elsenborn