Stoumont, December 1944

 After my recent outing to Dom Butgenbach, it was Tims turn to take us back to the Ardennes in 1944. This time Stoumont in the Ambleve Valley as KG Peiper struggled westwards. This was using Tims Funny Little World War rules and his vast collection of 54mm figures and vehicles of assorted scales, but mainly 1/48th ish.

Battlefield from the west. Stoumont is the foreground, and there is a small cluster of buildings as well in the top left corner. The Germans are coming along the road on the right in a column, and the various slopes are precipitously steep (Tim has driven this route) and covered in mud and snow. The Germans need to capture at least four buildings for a draw and eight for a win. Easy peasy!

Just visible is what look like US armour and transport inside the town, along with the village priest (in black) outside the church. The elements are generally companies, with the odd platoon sized unit.

The assembled hordes. Russell, Jim and Jerry were the US, and myself, Terry, Micheal and John and John the wicked Germans. John commanded the SS Panzergrenadiers, Micheal the panzers and Terry the Fallschirmjagers and SS engineers. I was Hauptsturmfuhrer Diefanthal, CO of 1st SS Panzer Regiment and overall commander.

I gave out the guys mission based tasks in  Germanic style, while maintaining a reserve, although we didn't have much option given our entry point and the terrain to just driving down the road in a huge column. 

KG HQ had a platoon of Puppchen 88mm AT guns. Tim did have a proper model of a Puppchen but just before the game had managed to lose it(!) so used this antique tin model instead. It still looks quite a lot like the real thing.

And I had this rather imposing personality figure. Well I'm sure he is very keen to make it to the leather bars of Antwerp.

On we trundled, panzergrenadiers leading. It seemed very silly to lead with a tank company as we were advancing in dense terrain and thick mist. BANG! went the inevitable AT gun from somewhere in the fog, and BOOM! went a number of halftracks. We can't deploy south of the road as those are the banks of the Ambleve, and the slope to the right is steep and muddy. Well, this is going to be fun.

Things got even better. BOOOOM! went the rest of the halftracks as they blew up all over the road, at least the occupants had got out and scrambled along the banks of the Ambleve looking for cover. This opened up a field of fire for the PGRs supporting Stummels, who laid down a hail of HE on the AT gun position tucked away behind a building.

The rest of the column tried to negotiate the muddy slope. The HQ halftracks towing the AT guns got stuck, but the leading Pz IV company had a bit more success and clawed its way upwards, with a company of FJ clinging to the back.

Having made it to the top of the ridge the Pz IVs motored happily along in the snow. Bn HQ was still stuck at the bottom of the slope and caused the Panzer Engineers to back up behind them. The PGR continued to work their way along the road and surprisingly the Stummel began to win the firefight with the US 57mm gun. The US moved a company of Shermans down the road (just visible beyond the church), but they were masked by all the various bits of terrain.

The US also had a company of Tank Destroyers, this beautiful M18 Hellcat. They were parked a bit further north and prepared to take on the Panzers.

Further back down the German column was a platoon of Wirbelwinds. I'm sure they will be great against US infantry if we can ever get them into action!

Things were going a bit better on the road. The Stummel had managed to suppress the US AT gunners, and moved forwards a bit to link up with its infantry. The German HQ also finally made it up the slope, and with the road clearer, the German engineers and then a company of Panthers were able to move on. It was still a horrible traffic jam though.

The Panzer IVs dropped off the FJ who deployed to the south and then a duel between the M18s and the Pz IVs commenced. Surprisingly it was first blood to the panzers, who damaged the M18s, but were then suppressed in turn.

The FJ made for the house on the corner, covered by their MG platoon and the PGR were still heading for the  now abandoned AT position covered by the Stummel. To try and clear the jam, the German HQ platoon dropped off the command  and medical teams and made a dash for the houses to the north (left) as they appeared to be unoccupied. Somewhat risky as they were in full view of the M18s, but the TDs had bigger fish to fry.

The US moved their Sherman up to the corner of the road, which caused a degree of consternation among the German infantry! The PGR were almost at their objective, which turned out to be occupied, ands instead engaged the Shermans with Panzerfausts and missed. The Stummels hit the Shermans but didn't do any damage.

The Shermans brassed up with PGR right in front of them with their MGs, and the Panthers drove up to the top of the ridge behind the Panzer IVs without any problems.

The next turn was a big one for the Germans. The Panzer IVs took a hit from the M18s, but finally managed to finish off the tank destroyers. Perhaps they should have shot and scooted? In a great success, the FJ, covered by their MG platoon, stormed the corner house and killed or captured all the occupants and the Sherman managed to miss the Stummels on the road.

With the M18s cleared away, the German towed AT gun moved into the houses to the northeast, and the Panthers rolled down the valley towards Stoumont in a menacing manner. Apparently nothing much happened around the bend on the road as everyone still looks alive in the photo, but another great traffic jam is building up as the battalion mortar platoon and MG company are both now piled up behind the Wirbelwinds. In turn they are jammed up behind the engineers, who have chosen this moment to get out their halftracks, leaving the road full of halftracks. Why? I think I'll be interviewing the Lt when we are in Antwerp.

Anyway, we broke for the night a that point after six turns. Six more to go. What will happen next?

We started off with the panzers bravely advancing on the eastern edge of Stoumont, perhaps a bit too bravely as they were now in bazooka range of the defenders. The rest of the Panzer IV company duly blew up. At least the Wirblewind was up on the ridge now.

The Panther company had gone nosing around the northern edge of the town and ran into a 90mm AA gun! Just what you need. This then proceeded to blew holes in some of the Panthers. 

And to cap off a great turn, the panzergrenadiers attempted to storm the building in the southwest corner covered by the Stummel, and we cut down to a man by the defenders. At least the Sherman had driven off now, heading back north to deal with the German tank threat, and the FJ were still safe in the building they had captured while the medic treated the wounded.

Fortunately I had kept a reserve, and the armoured engineers and MG company motored across the snowy valley following the Panthers. Emboldened by their success, the FJ broke cover and moved behind the wrecks of the Panzers IVs with the next building in the row in their sights - it was busily being shot up by the Wirbelwind.

To everyones surprise, an entire US rifle company emerged from the southwestern building and ran into the street chasing after the FJ. Meanwhile the Stummel had been advancing down the road, and was somewhat surprised to see a mass of US infantry in front of it!

The Germans were undeterred and covered by their MG platoon and the Wirbelwinds, stormed the next house along. Meanwhile the MG company dismounted east of the destroyed M18s and the engineers headed north for the road. The Panthers edged around the northern building to take on the Shermans, having despatched the 90mm AA gun, and tripped a line of mines across the road. Fortunately they were anti-personnel and didn't do any damage.

The US infantry out in the road were machinegunned by the Stummel and  some of their number fell wounded.

As the engineers moved up in support, the Panthers knocked out some of the remaining Shermans, but US infantry in the northern house knocked the remaining Panthers out with bazookas. This was their last hurrah as the German MG company opened up on the building at point blank range, along with the Wirbelwinds and completely shredded the building.

The FJ duly stormed it, their third assault in a row! Those guys turned out be as hard as nails, even if irl they were a bunch of Luftwaffe ground crews handed FJ uniforms.

The engineers nosed around the burning Panthers while the Stummel and Shermans traded shots at point blank range, both sides took some losses, which was enough to finish off the Shermans.

By now the Americans were down to their battalion HQ and mortar platoon, and faced with the rampaging FJ, decided it was time to pull out. So a rather bloody German victory, shame about all those knocked out panzers. I think the panzer commander got a bit over confident there.

That was a very enjoyable game with lots of historical feeling incident, and as with the recent Vietnam game, the limited field of view really added to the tension and fog of war.