Grumble Jones December Scenario GJ114 The Choice

And just like that...the year came to an end and the final Grumble Jones Scenario of 2022 was ready drop. It has been a wonderful year for scenarios. And for the final one for 2022, I went with a hypothetical imagining of a historical incident involving Major Felix Sparks. Sparks served in the 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division...the famed Thunderbirds. Sparks' story is told in detail in Alex Kershaw's excellent book, The Liberator. Back in the day I was a very active reviewer for Amazon and participated in the Amazon Vine program.  The Vine program was pretty awesome. Amazon would send you free stuff and you had to was write a review. But had you had to be quick off the blocks to get the good stuff...like laptops, cameras, game systems. I usually go things like an office stapler, and a variety of great books. One of these would be an uncorrected proof of The Liberator.

I highly recommend this book, if you have not yet had the opportunity to read it. Kershaw is very easy to read and keeps the narrative going throughout the book. Sparks would survive Anzio, when nearly all but three men in command would share the same fate. 

Sparks and his men would fight through southern France and into Germany. GJ114 concerns itself with an incident during the fighting at Reipertswiller, France in the snow of January 1945. 

In the mountains near Reipertswiller, Spark's isolated battalion had been surrounded by the grenadiers of the 6th SS Mountain Division. Relief efforts had failed and in the course of this action, Spark's would take a pair of Shermans up into the mountains and rescue wounded and freezing men. He would do this in the full view of the SS men. In admiration of Spark's courage...they held their fire and allowed Sparks to retire down the mountain with those men he had been able to rescue. This moment is all the more amazing, as the 6th SS Mountain Division had been accustomed to a "No Quarter" environment against the Russians in Finland.

This scene is also depicted in Netflix's outstanding 4 part series of The Liberator. Part 3 covers the action very well and creates a made for ASL moment. I really enjoyed this series and appreciated it's approach to telling the story. Quite possibly the best WW2 related drama in recent years to depict ground combat. It is certainly well worth your time.

Here now is GJ114 The Choice, which attempts to turn the Netflix version of the event into an ASL scenario. There are a few SSR's, which attempt to mold the action to the event. You never want to force a specific story conclusion to any scenario. But hopefully, the SSR's help retain the flavor of the event and make it an interesting game.

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

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All Grumble Jones scenarios are available from the ASL Archive website. 

(Just search on Grumble Jones)