Grumble Jones April Scenario GJ069 - Dewey's Scrach Force

The April Grumble Jones scenario was inspired by a reading of Steven Zalonga's outstanding book: Smashing Hitler's Panzers. Zalonga goes into great detail to tell the story of the failure of the 12th SS Panzer Division, 12th Volksgrenadier Division and 277 Volksgrenadier Division to penetrate the defenses of the US 99th Infantry Division and pass through the Krinkelterwald Forest. From the beginning, the Germans assaulting the 99th's positions suffered setbacks. These setbacks would stack up to the point of a general failure of the offensive. 

I would certainly recommend getting a copy of Zalonga's book if and when the opportunity arises. It's a great ASL level look at the fighting. It also is amazing to me how many Panther tanks went down to bazooka teams. 

One of the US units which faced off against the Germans in the Krinkelterwald was the 394th Infantry Regiment. The 394th would figure prominently in the fighting and give a great account of itself in the close up fighting against German tanks and infantry. On December 17th, the 394th was hard pressed to hold a line with an increasing number of gaps near Losheimergraben. One of the most exposed positions was held by about fifty men under the command of 1st Lt. Dewey Plankers. His scratch force of riflemen from B and C Companies of 1st Battalion, 394th, included twenty men armed only with pistols. These were jeep drivers and other miscellaneous support troops thrown together to hold the line. Planker's force would tangle with 12th VGD grenadiers and three Stugs of the Pz.Jg.Abt. 1012. Despite a rare strafing by Luftwaffe fighter planes, Dewey and his force would knock out the Stugs and give the grenadiers a bloody nose.

This encounter highlights one of the truths about the Battle of the Bulge, which is that the German timetable for success was practically destroyed in the first two days of the Ardennes Offensive as units like Plankers stalled the advance and deprived the German armored formations with access to the badly needed Rollbahns which would allow the panzers to get into open terrain.

Zalonga points out that the German High Command realized by December 20th that the objectives of the offensive could not be realized. That's just four days into the offensive. Hard to believe how quickly the attack failed. 

This month's scenario attempts to depict Dewey's force as it fought to hold back the Stugs and supporting grenadiers. I did not attempt to model the twenty troopers armed only with pistols and elected not to include the Luftwaffe strafing. 

In keeping with my standard operating procedure, I kept the scenario pretty simple. It's a straight up meat and potatoes combined arms attack against a static defense.

As always these monthly "Basement Quality" Scenarios are offered for fun only and as a thank you to the readers of this blog.

Remember to open pictures in a new window in order to maximize the size. 

And as always, these scenarios can be downloaded from The ASL Scenario Archive 

(just search on Grumble Jones).