Eerde 1944

We played a Chain of Command scenario (Attack & Defend) my friend based on the fighting around Hell's Highway near Veghel (more information here).

The Germans are trying to stop reinforcements from reaching Arnhem by trying to cut the road north. The Americans (101st airborne) intend to stop the attempt with agressive counterattacks.

My Germans are defending the dunes near Eerde against my friend's paratroopers, supported by two British Shermans.

I read about the German Panthers taking out lots of Shermans during the historical battle. This led to the  assumption that I would be able to take out my friend's Shermans with my Panther. I was wrong.

A preliminary barrage prevented me from deploying anything, while the paratroopers were already moving towards my jump-off points. Fortunately the Panther did get through, but failed to hit the Sherman during the entire game!

The Sherman on the other hand, kept hitting the Panther. Not hard enough to destroy it, but enough to force the commander to spend his actions preventing the shock from reaching bail out level.

I was finally able to deploy some troops and slow the US onslaught. This included the German forward observer. My plan was to pin the paratroopers under a mortar barrage.

After the first volley, my friend used his full chain of command dice to end the mortar barrage by ending the turn. Trying to start a new barrage failed because I failed the battery available roll required after the first request for a barrage.

By this time I had my own full Chain of Command dice and used it to ambush the other Sherman with my Panzerschreck team.

But they missed (a double 1)!!!

The paratroopers and Shermans were now chewing up my Germans and things went from bad to worse for the Germans.

Luckily I was able to repeat the Panzerschreck ambush. This time with success. The Sherman which had been relentlessly shelling my troops was out of the fight.

This wasn't enough to turn the tide however. I had to withdraw the remnants of a squad behind a dune in order to prevent them breaking. The paratroopers quickly moved to the other side of the dune. With their superior numbers they threathened to close assault and wipe out the reduced German squad. So I decided to flee.

This sealed the fate of the German squad. The paratroopers marched and fired over the dune, wiping out the German squad, which couldn't get away fast enough.

The German force morale was reduced to zero. Victory for the Allies!