Battle of the Bulge: Fighting in Bleialf

This post is a supplement to Part II of the Bulge Series and compliments the one on the fight for Krewinkle and Afst.  The supplements are necessary as the scenario being used as the vehicle to study this battle either starts after the fighting has ended (Krewinkle and Afst) or has the front line further east at game start (Bleialf).

The game map from Part II is copied below to remind the reader on the location of the villages.

With Krewinkel and Afst taken in the north, followed by the loss of Auw and Roth, and a successful assault on Bleialf, the encirclement of the 422nd and 423rd infantry regiments begins.

Bleialf

While 16 December was a dark day for the U.S. Army, the support troops garrisoning Bleialf acquitted themselves well.

Insight into the situation at Bleialf and along the Schnee Eifel are copied from this excellent post available at http://www.battleofthebulgememories.be.

"Two of the 106th regiments were actually manning the furthest penetration into Nazi Germany.  In the fall, the Americans had carved out a salient in the West Wall by capturing the Schnee Eifel heights.  But holding the ridge meant that the regiment on the northern half, the 422nd, had to bend back west to meet armored cavalry outfits in the Losheim Gap.  On the southern half, the 423rd had to refuse its line to the west to include Bleialf.  Up on the heights, the GIs actually used West Wall pillboxes and bunkers as company and platoon command posts.  The heavily forested slope facing the enemy could only be scaled on foot.  But the flanks were vulnerable, especially in the south.  A three mile gap yawned between the Schnee Eifel and the northern-most positions of the 424th Regiment.  In that gap stood Bleialf."

To fill the gap mentioned above the 106th Infantry Division was force to use support units:

"The 423rd Antitank Company and part of Cannon Company, acting as infantry, occupied most of the town and positions on the lower slopes immediately north and northeast.  There they tied in with 1st Battalion of the 423rd.  A platoon from King Company, 3rd Battalion, 423rd, and Charlie Company of the 820th Tank Destroyer (towed) Battalion occupied the rest of the town, except the train station.  The station and the area around it, was held by Troop B, 18th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron.  The cavalrymen occupied buildings and dugouts backed by their armored cars.  To their left, they could see Bleialf a mile up the road.  Their neighbors to the right rear, GIs from the 424th regiment, were out of view half a mile away through heavy forest.  Patrols made contact with those neighbors who reported that they were also spread thin". 

I highly recommend reading the post and its description of the initial German attack, steadfast defense, followed by a counter attack, on to end in the final, overwhelming assault.  There are a couple of useful maps and the post is well referenced. At the end of the post credit is given to Steven B Wheeler from Portland, Oregon.

Unfortunately, the web page listed for Steven is no longer available but I found his series of short fiction on the Bulge and the 106th Infantry Division:

Part I

Part II

The series was supposed to be a trilogy but could not find the third book, Forest Battles.

Next post, I'll modify the scenario and map files to display the dispositions for U.S. units in and around Bleialf as listed in Wheeler's article..