Battleground WWII is at its best in small infantry fights. The Men of Honor scenario pack, while overpriced, has several good scenarios. John, Charlie, and I got to-gether to play the Austrian Knight scenario. John took command of the American forces: two regular squads, and a MMG. Charlie took the German command, which consisted of four veteran squads of the 2nd SS “Das Reich” led by Iron Cross winner Sepp Lainer.

The German orders were to take the American positions in 12 turns. On paper it looked like the Germans should have an easy time. To have any chance of success the Americans would have to pull off a good ambush and inflict heavy casualties. The German’s high morale made it unlikely that they would break. However the Americans would be very vulnerable once exposed. The map had a poor road con-necting the German and American sides. A stonewall and some light woods pro-vided good cover for the German advance to the middle of the board. John chose to dig in one squad on the left flank, in foxholes, some distance from the wall. On the right side John positioned a squad in holes dug into the backside of a hedge, which fronted a stone building.

The MMG was at the end of the hedge where it could fire forward and also cover the open ground in front of the left flank position. The platoon command was on the roof of the house where they could spot for the off-board mor-tar. Charlie began his advance in textbook fashion - leap frogging forward, keeping his LMGs in position to provide covering fire. He had a large number of good officers, which he used to divide up his squads into smaller fire groups. John patiently spotted the advancing Germans and waited. The shooting began when the SS reached the wall in front of the left flank. John’s opening volley inflicted several casualties, and forced the rest of the German squad to hit the deck behind the wall.

Charlie’s LMGs were not in the right position to return fire. A nasty firefight ensued, and John spent his limited mortar rounds wisely, hitting the Germans sheltering behind the wall. The German advance was stalled so Sepp Lainer grabbed a few troopers and led a charge across the open ground toward the American positions.

Another half squad charged from the far end of the wall while the remaining Ger-mans tried to suppress the GIs in the trench line. Sepp Lainer, who had survived Russia and an incredible 54 close combat engagements was hit point blank by a burst of automatic rifle fire and fell mortally wounded. This, combined with fire from the MMG, stopped the German assault. The Germans were forced to attack the position more patiently. After getting the LMGs set-up they used pinning fire to sup-press the Americans. At last the Germans were able to reach the American posi-tions and take them one by one in bloody hand-to-hand fighting.

Suddenly it looked like the Germans were going to win easily. The American left flank had been crushed, and the Germans had reached the stonewall facing the American right flank. At this point I was given command of the Germans in front of the American right, just in time to receive a volley of fire so devastating that the few survivors broke morale and never recovered. The almost instantaneous destruction of an entire German squad and the timely arrival of a jeep from HQ stabilized the American situation. In an act of incredible recklessness the crew of the jeep drove right out into the open and started blazing away with their MMG. This of course drew the attention of every German MG and the survivors wisely made a U-turn and took cover. With time running out the Germans made a last, desperate attempt to break the Americans.

Finally, on turn 12, the last Americans broke morale and ran. Surveying the remains of a crack SS platoon that had been shattered by a few stubborn GIs this could in no way be described as a German victory.