General Situation

Here, in the hilly broken country in southwestern Germany, in early autumn 1944, the headlong American advance across Europe came to an exhausted halt. Defending its homeland, on good defensive ground, the Wehrmacht has succeeded in establishing organized lines of resistance to further American movements. The front lines have been relatively lightly held while both armies concentrated on rebuilding and resupplying their depleted formations.

Nightly patrols, raids, and reconnaissance have been common in this sector. Recently, the pace of activity has risen noticeably, and the scale of such operations has enlarged somewhat as well. Last night there was a fairly large American raid on the town of Glicken-Glocken, situated at the base of Mount Bindleheim where a bend in the Wassenflusse forms a narrow neck at the head of a lone rolling valley. Glicken-Glocken forms a key blocking position in the defense of the sector, and both sides anticipate hard fighting for its possession.

SPECIFIC SITUATION Senior German Command: Kampfgruppe Klotzendorf

Shortly before dawn you were awakened by a call from your subordinate in the vital Wassenflusse sector. In a shaken and panicky voice he reported that his troops appear to have run away from the strategic town and that he was fired upon when he attempted to approach the place in his staff car. You have sternly demanded that he instantly retrieve the situation with his own forces.

Because the town of Glicken-Glocken is of vital significance to your whole defense line, you have now decided to dispatch the armored reserve element of your division as assurance against the likelihood that the local commander will be unable to successfully stabilize the situation with his own very limited resources. Therefore, as morning breaks, you watch 3 armored half-tracks, each bearing a squad of panzer-grenadiers with newly issued Panzerfausts in each and an MG-42 mounted on each vehicle, 1 StuG-111 tank destroyer, and 3 PzKw-IV with Schutzen armor on flanks and turrets, pass under your window and head off down the road towards Glicken-Glocken. Acting on impulse, you decide to join the column and personally direct the operation.

Your copy of the scale map indicates the road on which your forces will approach on the board. The Game Director will notify you of the time of your arrival.

SPECIFIC SITUATION: Subordinate German Command: 952nd Infantry

Having been awakened not long after midnight by the arrival of a few terrified soldiers from the platoon garrisoned in Glicken-Glocken, who tell an incoherent tale of an overwhelming American nighttime armored attack, you have approached the town in your staff car and made a narrow escape after being fired upon from the town. The remainder of the night has been spent organizing a counterattack force from whatever was available in your battalion, and in trying to contact your superior to inform him of the crisis.

Finally, just as your hastily assembled force was about to set out for the strategic town, you managed to get your call through to your groggy commander, who did not appear to understand the gravity of the situation.

As the sky begins to grow light, your small force of 3 truckborne rifle squads, 1 8.2cm mortar squad, 5cm antitank gun squad, and 1 StuG-111 approach the place where your staff car had been fired upon. Full of anxiety about the fate of the platoon stationed in the town before the attack, you direct the deployment of your forces.

Your copy of the scale map indicates the direction of your approach to the board. The Game Director will notify you of the time of your unit's arrival at the edge of the board.

SPECIFIC SITUATION Senior American Command: Task Force Pin-Up

You are moving to reinforce elements of task force Garbo left in Glicken-Glocken to hold the town until your arrival. The main body of Garbo has, or at least should have, passed on beyond the town to spread confusion and gain vital information regarding enemy dispositions. Your orders are to enter the town, link up with the forces already there, and hold the place for at least 24 hours, within which time the raiders are expected to return and reenter your lines.

The Germans may be expected to react strongly, and things will get very hot as the raiders approach, probably with lots of Krauts on their tails. Your task is vital, for without an open road through Glicken-Glocken, task force Garbo will be cut off and destroyed. The decision whether or not to attempt to hot d the town thereafter, or retire from it, will be made as events become clear.

As your force of 2 M-10 tank destroyers, 2 towed 57mm antitank gun squads, and 2 truckborne rifle squads moves towards Glicken-Glocken, you pass a shabby looking column of Jerries and equipment moving towards the POW cages. Some of your men detruck briefly to see whether there are any prized Panzerfausts to be liberated, and failing to find any, reflect glumly that the BAR light machine gun in one squad and Bazooka in the other seem very inadequate weapon support.

Your point of entry is marked on your copy of the scale map. The Game Director will inform you as elements of your force become available. Battalion has indicated that it may reinforce you to some extent if the situation becomes desperate enough to warrant it.

SPECIAL SITUATION Subordinate American Command: Task Force Garbo

Following the unexpectedly easy capture of Glicken-Glocken, in which a couple dozen very frightened Jerries were taken prisoner along with a 5cm antitank gun, you have left a small force in the town and passed the main body of your raiders as planned on into the enemy rear areas to spread confusion and gain information. You have placed your 2 rifle squads, each with a Bazooka, and your weapons squad with its 57mm antitank gun and 30 cal-machine gun around the perimeter of the town. You, beside the radio truck, parked not far away from the 1/4 ton trucks which carried your units, constitute the sole reserve at your disposal until the expected reinforcements from Battalion materialize. Your orders are to hold onto Glicken-Glocken and keep open the road, shown on your copy of the scale map, down which the rest of task force Garbo is expected to return tomorrow night after completing its raid. Heavy fighting is expected and there will be lots of Krauts chasing Garbo.

There is a trail up Mount Bindleheim, it appears practicable for jeeps or 1/4 ton trucks, but not for heavy weapons. The town is largely deserted, except for a group of civilians huddled in the basement of the inn building.

During the night a vehicle approached your lines from the direction of suspected German lines. Your troops opened fire prematurely a nd the vehicle turned around and made off unharmed. You have lectured the men responsible for the regrettable incident and stressed the importance of fire discipline

Game Director's Supplemental Information

There is a group of 8 German soldiers hiding high up on Mount Bindleheim with an MG-42 light machine gun. They will remain quiet unless approached by troops. If approached by any troops, either German or American, they have a 1/3 chance of remaining in hiding, 1/3 chance of firing upon whomever approaches, and a 1/3 chance of emerging peacefully.

If any German troops succeed in entering Glicken-Glocken, a villager will emerge and tell them that the bulk of the American armor has passed on up the other road into German territory. If the German commanders dispatch a vehicle up that road to follow the Americans, then they will see their vehicle emerge and warn them 3 turns before the arrival of the returning raiders of Garbo. The German commanders should not be informed of the advantages of sending anything to follow the Americans, but should be left to think of the idea on their own.

The detachment left by Garbo to hold the town may be hidden there at the beginning of the game by having the American commander mark their disposition on his scale map and show you his dispositions.

The Subordinate German force may be deployed up to one foot on either side of the road on which he arrives. Any 3 of his units may enter on the first turn, and the reamaining 3 on the 2nd turn.

Task force Pin-Up comes on its road on turns 8, 9, and 10; at a rate of 2 units per turn. The commander may select the sequence in which his units come onto the board. He may deploy up to one foot either side of the road if he delays their arrival a turn. If the Americans at any time lose possession of the town square, then Pin-Up will be reinforced by 2 M-4 medium tanks after a delay of 3 turns, but in no event before the arrival of Pin-Up itself.

Kampfgruppe Klotzendorf arrives on the same road by which its subordinate approached earlier on turns 14 and 15. If the town is already in German hands, or appears to be quickly falling to the Germans, then the task force will not actually make an appearance unless the Americans once again eject the Germans from the center of the town. It may be advisable not to tell the Klotzendorf commander which side he will be on, nor let him know what his role will be until about the time his units become available.

The suspense of having a player waiting with unknown role could be constructive. The Americans, knowing that forces have gone on into the enemy rear, may well believe that this extra player represents that force.

Task Force Garbo, those that had gone on into the German rear, will return on turns 22 through 24. Their road is marked on your scale map. This force consists of 2 M-3 light tanks, 4 M-4 medium tanks, and 3 squads of armored infantry in armored halftracks. They may attempt to fight their way through if necessary. If the Americans have their radio truck, or an armored vehicle, intact in Glicken-Glocken, then they will have 5 turns advance warning of the raider's approach. Otherwise, they will not know until they actually appear, though they may begin to guess if the German vehicle reappears from its little reconnaissance.

To win, the Americans must save more than 1/2 of the raiding force.

The Fog of War: Introduction