Grumble Jones April Scenario - GJ094 Avenging Panther 101

I finished the initial work on this scenario on March 1st of this year. I then polished it up, walked through it and sent it on to my buddy Dan to do his sanity check on the scenario. This one is a bit large and concerns itself with a very specific event. Fortunately, I had two good source materials related to this scenario. I always enjoy seeing two sources corroborate the same event. One of my life long weaknesses has always been books. I spend as much or more money on books as I do on ASL. I never imagined that I would or even could drop a hundred dollars for a book...but I have on books by Nash and Marks. My reference materials for this month's scenario were more reasonably priced. 

The first reference work was Douglas Nash's From the Realm of a Dying Sun Volume II. I recently acquired all three volumes in the series and have begun reading them. The idea for the April scenario came from a brief snippet about the death of Sturmbannfuehrer Erwin Meierdress. The popular Meierdress was the commander of the 1st Battalion, 3rd SS Panzer Regiment of the Totenkopf Division.

During the initial days of the German attempt to relieve Budapest, Wiking and Totenkopf Divisions had moved near Dunaalmas, Hungary. It was here that Meierdress' Panther 101 would halt beside a building. Meierdress would jump out to confer with other officers. Unbeknownst to him, a Soviet SU-85 hidden in a building had lined up a shot and waited for the Panther to restart. Meierdress jumped back into the turret, the Panther started and was promptly struck at the turret ring by the waiting SU-85. The radio operator Kurt Sohrmann and the driver would succeed in bailing out, although both would sustain burns. Everyone else was dead inside the turret including Meierdress. The news of Meierdress' death ignited the Germans to seek out out the hidden SU-85, which was shortly dispatched as the remaining panzers and panzergrenadiers eliminated all other Soviet resistance. Panther 101 was still running....so the driver hopped back in to drive it the rear with the three bodies left into the turret until they could be removed. Meierdress would be buried in Vienna. Kurt Sohrmann would survive the war and be the primary source for the events of this scenario.

The second source I consulted was Casemate Illusttrated's The 3rd SS Panzer Regiment. This volume has an entire section devoted to Kurt Sohrmann and shows Panther 101 and details the same action covered in Nash's book. The Casemate Illustrated series is quite good and is filled with good pictures, maps, drawings and narration. At $25 each, they are a good buy.

While both books are great, the Casemate book will probably appeal to more people due to the great combination of content. Nash's book has some great pictures, but it's primarily hard core documentation. 

My intent with any scenario is always to try and translate the event into the ASL experience as much as that is possible. This scenario has a lot of stuff for both sides and requires a lot from the German player. Time is short for the amount of ground to be covered, so the German player will need to make the most of his mobile assets while managing the risk associated with hidden Soviet tanks and AT Guns.

As always, we must approach any study of an SS officer with a clear eye to not only their military accomplishments but the darker side of the powers they served. While Meierdress was a very capable and highly decorated military officer, his division, the Totenkopf, had a dark and long history of atrocities. So there's that...

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).