AMERICAN SITUATION

You are the commander of "A" Company, 501st Airborne Infantry Battalion. Yesterday your regiment was alerted for a move while you were in a rest area in northern France. All night long the trucks rolled. At midnight the column stopped and the battalion commander had a meeting with his company commanders. He said the majority of the battalion was going to the town of Noville, but that your company less one platoon) would go a few miles farther north to the village of Leuville. Your mission is to hold the town, and especially the bridge. There is very little intelligence available on the Germans, except that the VIII Corps units in the area were hit hard over the previous two days. The battalion commander says that you will be positioned too far north to be within therange of the battalion's direct support artillery 75 mm pack howitzers. He did say that he will attempt to get the regimental engineer platoon to send a team to wire the bridge for demolition, but did not know when that would be possible. At that point the column split-the majority of the battalion went to Noville, and your smaller element moved toward Leuville.

You arrive in Leuville at 0230 hours. When you get into the village you are met by a 1LT from the 9th Armored Division. The LT is exhausted, scared, and obviously very inexperienced. He says that several hours earlier his company team was defending another village about five miles to the east. Suddenly, a large German force struck the town a couple of hours after dark. There was a very intense fight for 20-30 minutes. The LT, who was the XO of the tank company in the town, managed to escape with a few vehicles and men, but is convinced that his small force is all that remains of the Tank Company, Tank Destroyer Platoon, and Armored Infantry Platoon that had been holding Houville.

The LT is clearly exhausted, so you try to calm him down and get sensible answers. He says that he saw "Lots of Tigers" firing in the village. There were lots of "heavy weapons tracers from some kind of automatic guns," and that the "Krauts kicked the hell out of us." He managed to reach Leuville at about 0100. Gathering up those survivors who were with him, he established a hasty defense east of the village. He says that he has the following forces in Leuville:

2 M4A3 Sherman
1 M4A3E8 Sherman
1 M-10 Tank Destroyer
2 halftracks w/armored Infantry Squads, each with:

1 NCO w/SMG, 3 EM w/SMG, and 3 EM w/M1 rifles

He said that there has been no more contact with the Germans since his force fled from Houville. He said that his men are tired, hungry, and scared. When you ask how many men and vehicles were left behind in Houville he said, "About 10 Shermans, a couple of M-10s, and three or four halftracks. There must have been about 100 of us in that town. This is all I have left." You press him on the types of German vehicles he saw. All the LT can say is that "There were a bunch of tanks, Tigers with big front slopes."

It is now 0300. You do a quick recon of the village. From your map study you determine that the road network coming into Leuville would allow a German force in Houville to approach the village from either road. The small hill on the east of the town is too steep for vehicles or towed guns, but dismounted men can climb it with rifles and machine guns.

You have enough time to dig individual foxholes, weapons pits for your machine guns, and camouflage. Unfortunately, the ground is too frozen to dig in your heavier weapons prior to dawn.

You may deploy forces as far east as the hill and woods east of the town. The ground has four to six inches of snow on it, and the weather is overcast-not likely there will be much in the way of air support. Your company (less one platoon) consists of the following:

Company HQ:

1 CPT
1 LT
1 NCO
2 Radiomen (1 company net, and 1 battalion net)
2 Medics

Weapons Platoon:

Platoon HQ: 1 LT and 1 NCO

Mortar Section:

1 NCO and 1 EM with radio to talk to observers
2 Observer teams (2 rifles and 1 walkie talkie)

2 MTR teams (4 men, 160 mm MTR, and 60 rounds) Anti-tank Section:
3 Bazooka teams (2 men w/M1, 1 bazooka and 6 rounds) Heavy MG Section:
2 .50 cal MG teams (4 men and 3 M1)

Rifle Platoons:

2 Rifle Platoons, each with:
Platoon HQ: 1 LT and 1 NCO and 1 Radioman on company net

3 Rifle Squads, each with: 1 NCO and 2 EM w/SMG, and 5 EM w/M1, and 1 BAR

MG Section:

1 NCO

2 .30 cal MMG teams (3 men and 2 M1)


Anti-Tank Platoon (from Bn Weapons Company):
2 57 mm AT Guns (15 AP, and 15 HE rounds)

2 AT gun crews (5 EM w/M1 2 Jeeps

All officers are armed with M1 carbine and NCOs are armed with SMGs. Armor troops have a base morale of 14. All paratroopers have a base morale of 22. Terrain is "Firm but rough."

More Leuville

Game Replay
Scenario Information: German
Scenario Information: American