Battle of Noville

 The game was played on the 2/5/09 in my conservatory. Dave N and Ian were the US Players, John and I took the Germans. Most of the kit on display is mine but Dave helped out with the Germans.

I Abt 2 Panzer Grenadier Regiment in their start positions. Mostly Skytrex 251C's but the 251D's and the 251/9 are Cromwell. SdKfz-250's both Esci

II Abt 2 Panzer Grenadier Regt face Team Desobry and 1st Battalion 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment in Noville

HQ of Team Desobry and some of the team's transport. Front two M3's are Italeri, the rear is a Corgi diecast

Defenders of Cobru. MMS M18

3rd Battalion 506PIR at Foy. In the distance the Grenadiers of I Bataillon 78 VG Regt can be seen forming up for the assault. To the right a company of paras prepares to move out and defend the road to Bastogne

I Abt advances on Cobru supported by the single Panther.

II Abt storm forward to assault Noville. Unfortunately the fog wasn't co-operating at this point and the charge was open to view by all the defenders. None the less the Germans did manage to get into Noville, killing the 1st Battalion 506PIR's BHQ. They then snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by failing their morale checks and running off shaken

I Abt 304 Panzer Grenadiers attack Noville from the south east. US defensive fire would prove to be accurate and soon  a PzKfw-IV and a StuG would be burning

Unfortunately for the Germans the M18's shooting was very good, the Panther was burning by the end of turn 1, not having a chance to shoot. Luckily for the Germans the M18's being open topped are vulnerable to MG fire, which means in close proximity the SPW have a chance of killing the tank destroyers. However all the German infantry and 251's went pinned in front of the US defences. It was going to be a long drawn out attack

Turn 2 the fog descends and visibility drops to 100m (2"). I/78VGR take position unseen on the woods edge and the ditch. The two sides would spend a couple of hours starting at each other, neither strong enough to risk an attack

1 Kp 2 Panzer Grenadier Abt bypassed Cobru in the fog and pushed past Foy. Their first target was the para's mortar. This should have been an easy victory for the Germans but the mortars stand was tough, holding up the Panzergrenadiers for three turns and effectively stopping the Germans streaming down the Bastogne road. Ian responded by moving an M8 (Grubby Tanks) to fend of the halftracks. The M8 started by perforating the SdKfz-251/9

After being ejected from Noville the first time the Panzer Grenadiers re-grouped and took the village at the second attempt. They lost their last Panzer in the attempt though. This left the Germans with a single StuG, the US still having three M18's a Sherman 76, M5 and M8 armoured car. Although it was good to take Noville things didn't look too bright for the Germans

After a long wait the Volksgrenadier finally started their assault on Foy. Their first attack was to volley fire at the open topped and vulnerable M18

After belatedly finishing off the mortar 1Kp pushed down the road to Bastogne. However the Americans had positioned the M8 to block this move. Although the armoured car's fire was ineffective the Germans failed their morale and fell back shaken.

After a sustained and lengthy attack Cobru fell to the Panzer Grenadiers of  I Abt

After Noville fell I/304 moved south to Foy leaving II/2 to defend Noville. Dave regrouped all his forces and sent in a concentric attack with the remnants of the paras and Team Desoby. The first attack was repulsed with heavy casualties on both sides, leaving only one German defender

Having captured Cobru, 3kp 2 Pz Gren Abt re-mounts its 251's and heads for Recogny. The intention being to turn east and plunge in to the rear of the US defences at Foy

Turn 9. The single German defender at Noville was swamped by the second US counter attack. There was no chance for the Germans to re-take it before the turn 10 deadline so this move prevented a decisive victory for the Germans. However by this time the US forces had lost all their tanks except the M8 and M5 and the Germans still had a StuG. The attack on Foy looked likely to succeed and the US paras only had a single company defending the road to Bastogne. The German players' morale was high

The sIG-33 auf PzKfw-38(t) (SHQ) moved too slowly to support the last defenders in Noville. The turn after this picture was taken the fog lifted and the sIG was killed by an HMG from a US track.

Panzergrenadiers from I/304 and Volksgrenadiers from I/78 push in to Foy. Despite strong resistance from the paras the Germans had overwhelming odds and armour support (Cromwell StuG-IIIG), Foy was captured. However the delay in launching the German assault and the spirited defence meant that the II/78 (reinforcements) would have to remove the paras on the Bastogne road on their own. Still that was a fresh battalion of Grenadiers verses a single company of paras. The German commanders felt they were on for a victory

Confrontation on the Bastogne road, Grenadiers (painted by Dave) confront the Paras

After taking Noville the battered remnants of Team Desobry head south. However their route is blocked by the StuG, so they will be unable to intervene in the battle for the road

3 Kompanie rushes through the fog to reinforce II/78 VG Regt, however the M5 is blocking the road

The Volksgrenadiers fail to remove the paras. There were many losses in the VG and they only killed one para stand. The presence of the M5 was decisive and it lead to multiple German morale failures

The game had a real ebb and flow. In the first few turns things looked bleak for the Germans, most the panzers died, most of the US armour was still in the battle. As the battle progressed the M18's were killed by small arms fire, as the fog obliged the US commanders to keep them close to the German infantry. When the StuG killed the 76mm Sherman and the German numbers began to tell it was looking like a clear German victory was on the cards. The loss of Noville to the Americans soured the Germans' mood a little but a victory still looked inevitable. This outlook was reinforced when Foy fell, but at that point there were only a handful of turns left. II/78 pretty much had to destroy the paras on the road in a single turn, which they failed to do. The Germans' confidence was misplaced, the game was a US victory

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