Command Ops Return to St Vith

The following after-action report is for a hypothetical scenario that takes place on January 5, 1944 between the Axis I SS Panzer Korps and the Allies III Corps in the Belgian province of St. Vith, the last supply route available to the Germans in the Bulge. The American 4th Armored Division is approaching from the south and the German 12th Volksgrenadier Division is defending the area. Both sides have reinforcements available during the scenario which will last four days.

The New Scenario Options are the default selections: Realistic Orders Delay, Historical Weather, Standard Reinforcement and Normal Supply Schedules. There are four location objectives in the scenario along with the obligatory Destroy the Enemy task.

Each of the location objectives has a balance of Occupation and Completion points available which make the scenario a fair challenge.

Combat Action

D01 06:00 The initial deployment of forces has the 35th Tank Battalion at the Breitfeld Crossroads Objective (19 Victory Points), and 1st Battalion/318th Infantry Regiment along with the 51st Armored Infantry Battalion at the Steinbrück Bridge Objective (13 VP).

D02 00:00 The 51st Armored Infantry Battalion at Steinbrück was given an order to attack the Lommersweiler Objective (13 VP) earlier in the day but has not yet moved. I ordered a fresh attack order against the objective with no rest selected.

D02 12:00 I am in control of all of the location objectives on the battlefield having dispatched the reinforcement units 10th Armored Infantry Battalion and 8th Tank Battalion to the primary objective St. Vith (38 VP). There were no German units in the town and it was achieved as soon as the first unit arrived.

D03 00:00 Alpha Company 1/318th Bn is ordered to a small hill south of Weppeler to set up an observation post orientated towards the two roads running south parallel to the water obstacle.

D03 12:00 Additional reinforcements arrive and are allocated as follows: the 25th Cavalry Recon is sent to the main highway southwest of St. Vith along with a Tank Destroyer platoon to act as a decoy to draw artillery fire away from the primary objective. 37th Tank Battalion and 53rd Armored Infantry Battalion are ordered to take up defensive lines within St. Vith facing east and west.

D04 00:00 Lommersweiler has changed hands a few times and is presently still contested, but this does not impact the Win-O-Meter greatly as it is still pegged at approximately 75%.

D04 12:00 The 25th Cavalry Recon is taking a pounding from Axis artillery units but this has had the desired result in St. Vith allowing the reinforcement units to enter the area and begin to dig in without having to suffer through the massive suppression of the German indirect fire missions.

D05 00:00 The supply situation has been somewhat variable throughout the scenario with some units being cut off for a time. The cavalry and tank destroyer units outside of St. Vith are all but eliminated at this point.

After-action Report

The scenario ends and I achieve a Decisive Victory outcome, 96 Victory Points to 7. The Axis forces suffered a total of 3,265 personnel losses to my 830. The most striking statistic here is the 24 German units that disbanded during the scenario.

Review Final Situation

I was not able to take back Lommersweiler before the end of the scenario; however the impact to the effort was minimized due to the points being awarded in split between Occupation and Completion types (which is the most preferable in my opinion).

Post Mortem

I have played this scenario countless times since the release of the game for no other reason than it is just fun to play. It is about the maximum length I can tolerate without losing interest and the various alternative reinforcement schedules available are robust and certainly change the mission up quite well.