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.

Battle of the Bulge: Fighting in Krewinkle

Introduction

This post is a supplement to Part II of my Bulge series and highlights the fighting for Krewinkle and Afst, a rare American success on the morning of 16 December but not simulated in the scenario.

Situation Maps

This screen shot from an earlier version of the scenario.  Manderfeld is west and in the game we are playing the Germans start off map to the west.

The map below is an update from this post showing German positions at the end of Turn 1, adding place names for Afst and Krewinkel.  The Americans are long gone and Tigers roll through.

Index to the Battle of the Bulge, V Panzer Series

The following is a series of links serving as an index to my V Panzer / St. Vith series of posts. When complete, this wills serve as an e-book of sorts. I can foresee one weakness of this format will be orphaned links as time goes on but for those interested in military history and the discerning wargamer can enjoy this potentially ephemeral format as the samurai looked upon blossoming sakura.

Index

Part 1: Map with starting positions.
Part 2: 18th VG Division Advances.
Part 2: Fighting at Afst and Krewinkle.
Part 2: Fighting at Bleialf.
Part 3: Cannae in the Schnee Eifel
Part 4: German forces approach St. Vith
Part 4: Approaching St. Vith next day

Artillery:

      German - Report on Army Group B's General of the Artillery.

Medical care:

       U.S. - general and some Bulge related material. 

       German - general medical care and veterinary services for German infantry divisions.

Volks-Grenadiers.
       Kochen im Feld - Cooking in the Field

Weather chart during the Battle of the Bulge.

Geographic locations

Afst - fighting 16 Dec.
Bleialf - fighting 16 Dec.
Krewinkle - fighting 16 Dec.
Prumerberg Heights near St. Vith - defense by the 81st Engineers 17 - 21 Dec. Go to memorial section.
St. Vith
      - tour of the battlefield.

Units

U.S.

424th Infantry Regiment, 106th ID

German

18th Volks-grenadier Division

62nd Volks-grenadier Division

OOBs for both sides here (general). 

Personalities

Col. Thomas Riggs, 81st Engineers. 

     - obituary

     - defense at Prumerberg Heights near St. Vith

References (Publications)

A Time for Trumpets Charles B. Macdonald.
Battle of the Bulge, Hitler's Ardennes Offensive, 1944-1945 D.S. Parker. One of the main sources for Nafziger's OOB.
Das Heer 1933-1945, 1956 Vol I & II, Verband der Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen SS 1939-1945. Mueller-Hillebrand.  Cited by Nafziger.
Die Ardennen Offensive 1944-1945. H. Jung.  One of the main sources for Nafziger's OOB.
St. Vith: Lion in the Way, Ernest Dupuy. The 106th at the Battle of the Bulge. Paperback edition here. Note: there is a cheaper Kindle edition for 99 cents but does not contain maps or photos.
The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge Hugh M. Cole.
The Battle of the Bulge, Charles B MacDonald. Cited by Nafziger on his OOB.
The 106th: The Story of the 106th Infantry Division .pdf file of 1945 U.S. Army pamphlet
Verband und Truppen der detuschen Wermacht und Waffen-SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939-1945. G. Tessin.  Cited by Nafziger.
Victory Was Beyond Their Grasp, Douglas E. Nash. Detailed unit history of a Fusilier Company of the 272nd VG Regiment.  Best resource available on the Volks-Grenadiers.

References (Links)

14th Cavalry in the Losheim Gap
106th Infantry Division Association.  They have a reunion planed this September.
324th Medical Battalion.  Unit history. During the Bulge they were at Jalhay, Belgium, north of Malmedy.
424th Infantry Regiment, 106th Infantry Division. Personal account by Sgt Maurice Kunselman
     - first hand account of fighting from 23 to 30 December.
Battle of the Bulge Memories. Comprehensive web site from Belgium. Highly recommended.
Panzerworld Self explanatory.  Good info.
Project 1944. Military historians practicing "living history".
The 106th Infantry Division.  Nice section on the battlefield today.
WW2 Armed Forces OOBs and Organizations by Dr. Leo Niehorster. Not much available for the Bulge but otherwise, an excellent resource.

 

Related Games

A Time for Trumpets  GMT Games.  Board game.
Battles for the Ardennes SPI Games.  Board game. Four games in one.  Simulations of both the Bulge in 1944 and Sedan 1940.
Battle of the Bulge.  Shenandoah Studios. Computer Game. Available on Steam.
John Tiller's Campaign Series Matrix Games. Computer game.  Using a scenario from this game for this series of posts. Currently, on sale for $9.99!
Panzer Leader Avalon Hill. Board game.  Along with Panzerblitz (East Front) on of AH's best games.
The Ardennes Offensive SPI Games. Board game.
The Battle of the Bulge Avalon Hill. Board game.
The Blitz Wargame Club Eventual home for the updated (after this play test) V Panzer Army Campaign scenario.
Winter Thunder Tiny Battle Publishing. Operational level game designed by Brian Train.

Related Fiction

Fight to Survive: A Novel of the Battle of the Bulge, Book I, Steven Wheeler.

Behind Enemy Lines: A Novel of the Battle of the Bulge, Book II, Steven Wheeler.

Battle of the Bulge: OOBs for the Battle of the Bulge

Below are copies from two of George Nafziger's OOBs.

The German OOB can be found under file  # 944GLAA and the American under 944ULAA:

German LXVI Corps

Notes from the original:
2 - The 18th VG Division was formed during 9/44 in Denmark from the cadre of a Luftwaffe field division and drafts from the Luftwaffe and Navy. At full strength and two months experience on the defensive in the Eifel.
3 - Numbers date from 12/1/44 and are "ist starke" (total), "Gefecht stärke" (action), and "Kampfstärke" (battle strength).
4 - 62nd VG Division rebuilt after being destroyed in Russia. Heavily composed of Polish and Czech conscripts who spoke no German.

And a couple of additional notes at the end of the document:

Jung provides a statement at the bottom of his return for 12/1/44 that indicates the "Ist staäke" (total strength) of a Type 44 infantry division would probably be at 54% (6,708 men) and that a Volksgrenadier division would probably be at 58% (6,410 men) of their total authorized strengths.

Note on Equipment:
Jung and Parker are frequently at odds about the numbers of tanks, sturmgeschutz, and guns assigned. Jung is using official records and appears to be more accurate, but there is no apparent reason as to why Parker indicates a Jagdpanzer IV and Jung indicates only heavy anti-tank guns (PAK).

Parker, D.S, Battle of the Bulge, Hitler's Ardennes Offensive, 1944-1945, 1991, Hong Kong, Combined Books Inc.

Jung, H., Die Ardenne Offensive 1944-1945, 1971, Frankfurt, Musterschmidt Gottingen.

American 106th Infantry Division

No notes.

Sources:

Stanton, S.L., Order of Battle, U.S.Army, World War II, Presidio Press, Novato, CA, 1984.

Parker, D.S, Battle of the Bulge, Hitler's Ardennes Offensive, 1944-1945, 1991, Hong Kong, Combined Books Inc.

Massive Battle of the Bulge Scenario

As discussed in the CH Wargame Wednesday post play testing for the scenario was hampered by the lack of German mobility.  Something needed to be done as during game play the American side would always fall back in good order after inflicting heavy German casualties.  Eventually, the front line American regiments would succumb but they held their ground until American reinforcements arrived with the front stabilizing well to the east of Bastogne. 

The game engine and scenario conditions would not allow the German player a chance to repeat the historical outcome of two surrounded American regiments. I was able to find a U.S. Army Atmospheric Sciences Laboratory report titled Weather Effects During the Battle of the Bulge and Normandy Invasion by Marvin D. Kays.

Table 1 is copied below and allowed the scenario designer to adjust the weather conditions.  First day (6 turns) is foggy with limited visibility while the weather clears a little the 2nd day.

The amount of work needed to create the giant game map is phenomenal. Click on each picture below for a larger image. The map is at extreme zoom out and I've highlight German units by Corps so that they will stand out in red.

Here are the maps:

I'm playing the role of General Lucht and have the 66th Infantry Corps. This is the sector in which the Battle of St. Vith was fought. The Losheim Gap is in the NE part of the map.

The 58th Panzer Corps has the center:

And the 47th Panzer Corps has the south:

The map is so large that the American and German players taking the southern sector also have the road to Ettlebruck and the advance of the German paratroopers to consider: