Mortain, France
6 August 1944
Situation:
AMERICANS:
GERMANS:
THE SCENARIO:
A while back at BFC, there was much discussion on the Battlefront forums about adapting Squad Leader scenario's to CMBN. The thinking was that ASL size and scale were appropriate for Combat Mission. Those scenario's already came with Mission, OOB's, and victory conditions. All a CMBN designer would have to do is find and develop the map and balance the action. This will be my first attempt to accomplish that.
6 August 1944
Situation:
AMERICANS:
The 30th Division had been in the line for well over a month. It had fought in the hedgerows, made possible the capture of St. LO, participated in the Breakthrough Operation, and fought a particularly hard battle at Tessy-sur-Vire. To give the division a few days of rest, General Hodges moved it to a place he thought would be relatively quiet - MORTAIN.
Three days earlier, the 1st Infantry Division, (Maj. Gen. C.R. Huebner), had taken Mortain, a village at the foot of a rocky hill just to the east, Hill #314 (or #317). From this height in a region of convulsed and broken wooded highland, an observer has a magnificent view of flat tableland to the south and west. Avranches, twenty miles to the west, is visible on a clear day.
As the 30th Division came into Mortain on 6 August, the 1st displaced to the south, to prepare for the projected move eastward toward the Seine River.
The 30th Division, having fought under XIX Corps at Tessy-sur-Vire, and scheduled to come under V Corps control, was, because of its abrupt shift to Mortain in the VII Corps zone, unable to complete proper reconnaissance. With little knowledge of the terrain and of neighboring unit locations, and with practically no information of enemy dispositions, the 30th Division hastily took over the positions established by the 1st Division. Shallow foxholes and field artillery emplacements far forward in offensive formation, were hardly suitable for an outfit soon to be fighting for its life in a defensive situation.
Maps were not available, for the most part, troops used the crumpled maps Big Red One men had pulled out of their pockets and off their map boards, and passed along before departing. The telephone wire nets left in place were unfamiliar. The 30th Division had no time to tie its positions together before the Germans struck.
Nor was the division at full strength. Almost 800 replacements who had joined a few days earlier, did not completely fill the thinned ranks, and they were not yet fully assimilated into the depleted units. Two infantry battalions were absent, one attached to an armored division, and another dispatched to Barenton, where it was soon to be isolated for a day.
Tired because of the preceding month of combat, fatigued by the road march from Tessy-sur-Vire to Mortain that day, manning unfamiliar positions in unfamiliar terrain, the 30th Division troops were hardly in the best position to meet the German counterattack.
General Hobbs assumed responsibility for the Mortain area at 2000 hours on 6 August, four hours before the German attack began.
Three days earlier, the 1st Infantry Division, (Maj. Gen. C.R. Huebner), had taken Mortain, a village at the foot of a rocky hill just to the east, Hill #314 (or #317). From this height in a region of convulsed and broken wooded highland, an observer has a magnificent view of flat tableland to the south and west. Avranches, twenty miles to the west, is visible on a clear day.
As the 30th Division came into Mortain on 6 August, the 1st displaced to the south, to prepare for the projected move eastward toward the Seine River.
The 30th Division, having fought under XIX Corps at Tessy-sur-Vire, and scheduled to come under V Corps control, was, because of its abrupt shift to Mortain in the VII Corps zone, unable to complete proper reconnaissance. With little knowledge of the terrain and of neighboring unit locations, and with practically no information of enemy dispositions, the 30th Division hastily took over the positions established by the 1st Division. Shallow foxholes and field artillery emplacements far forward in offensive formation, were hardly suitable for an outfit soon to be fighting for its life in a defensive situation.
Maps were not available, for the most part, troops used the crumpled maps Big Red One men had pulled out of their pockets and off their map boards, and passed along before departing. The telephone wire nets left in place were unfamiliar. The 30th Division had no time to tie its positions together before the Germans struck.
Nor was the division at full strength. Almost 800 replacements who had joined a few days earlier, did not completely fill the thinned ranks, and they were not yet fully assimilated into the depleted units. Two infantry battalions were absent, one attached to an armored division, and another dispatched to Barenton, where it was soon to be isolated for a day.
Tired because of the preceding month of combat, fatigued by the road march from Tessy-sur-Vire to Mortain that day, manning unfamiliar positions in unfamiliar terrain, the 30th Division troops were hardly in the best position to meet the German counterattack.
General Hobbs assumed responsibility for the Mortain area at 2000 hours on 6 August, four hours before the German attack began.
GERMANS:
If a continuous defensive line could be re-established in Normandy, the shortest conceivable line in western Europe, the Germans might yet hold. To attain this goal, the Germans had to close the breach on their left. They had to recapture Avranches. A counterattack was in order, a thrust toward Avranches through Mortain.
The German field commander, Field Marshall von Kluge, began to assemble an armored force east of Mortain for this purpose. XLVII Panzer Corps, directing the 2nd SS, 2nd and 116th Panzer Divisions in an initial effort, and the 1st SS Panzer Division in exploitation, was to attack to the west after dark on 6 August, without artillery preparation, and seize and secure Avranches.
Three days earlier (3-August-44), the 1st Infantry Division, (Maj. Gen. C.R. Huebner), had taken Mortain, a village at the foot of a rocky hill just to the east, Hill #314 (or #317). From this height in a region of convulsed and broken wooded highland, an observer has a magnificent view of flat tableland to the south and west. Avranches, twenty miles to the west, is visible on a clear day.
Americans have moved into positions in the path of Operation Luttich. 2nd Panzer was ordered to find them, push through any outposts, and fix their positions for the impending offensive.
American capture of Laval on 6 August, endangered important supply bases near Alencon and Le Mans. And, American advances toward the high ground northeast of Mortain, menaced the lines of departure for the attack.
The 2nd SS Panzer Division, (on the left), attacked in two columns, encircled Mortain, overran and captured the village, and advanced towards the high ground west of Mortain, and to the southwest towards St. Hillaire. There was no significant American opposition, and by noon of 7 August, the German troops seemed on the way to St. Hilaire where they could threaten Avranches directly.
The German field commander, Field Marshall von Kluge, began to assemble an armored force east of Mortain for this purpose. XLVII Panzer Corps, directing the 2nd SS, 2nd and 116th Panzer Divisions in an initial effort, and the 1st SS Panzer Division in exploitation, was to attack to the west after dark on 6 August, without artillery preparation, and seize and secure Avranches.
Three days earlier (3-August-44), the 1st Infantry Division, (Maj. Gen. C.R. Huebner), had taken Mortain, a village at the foot of a rocky hill just to the east, Hill #314 (or #317). From this height in a region of convulsed and broken wooded highland, an observer has a magnificent view of flat tableland to the south and west. Avranches, twenty miles to the west, is visible on a clear day.
Americans have moved into positions in the path of Operation Luttich. 2nd Panzer was ordered to find them, push through any outposts, and fix their positions for the impending offensive.
American capture of Laval on 6 August, endangered important supply bases near Alencon and Le Mans. And, American advances toward the high ground northeast of Mortain, menaced the lines of departure for the attack.
The 2nd SS Panzer Division, (on the left), attacked in two columns, encircled Mortain, overran and captured the village, and advanced towards the high ground west of Mortain, and to the southwest towards St. Hillaire. There was no significant American opposition, and by noon of 7 August, the German troops seemed on the way to St. Hilaire where they could threaten Avranches directly.
THE SCENARIO:
This will be a CMBN version of ASL Scenario WG231 – "Prelude to Operation Luttich"
It is adapted from the 2007 "Mortain Campaign SSR" by Pete Pollard with his permission.
Mr. Pollard created 12 scenario's from the Mortain battlefield. This is the first.
Near La Fantay, France, 6 August 1944: In the waning light of an early August day, lead elements of the 2nd Panzer Division make contact with the 30th Infantry Division in positions located north of Mortain, France. A handful of Panthers, supported by infantry, advance on the northern units of the 117th Infantry Regiment. The Americans have set up a roadblock north of St Barthelmy with a few squads and two 57mm antitank guns.
It is adapted from the 2007 "Mortain Campaign SSR" by Pete Pollard with his permission.
Mr. Pollard created 12 scenario's from the Mortain battlefield. This is the first.
Near La Fantay, France, 6 August 1944: In the waning light of an early August day, lead elements of the 2nd Panzer Division make contact with the 30th Infantry Division in positions located north of Mortain, France. A handful of Panthers, supported by infantry, advance on the northern units of the 117th Infantry Regiment. The Americans have set up a roadblock north of St Barthelmy with a few squads and two 57mm antitank guns.
A while back at BFC, there was much discussion on the Battlefront forums about adapting Squad Leader scenario's to CMBN. The thinking was that ASL size and scale were appropriate for Combat Mission. Those scenario's already came with Mission, OOB's, and victory conditions. All a CMBN designer would have to do is find and develop the map and balance the action. This will be my first attempt to accomplish that.
