The final game of our Tunisia theme (which should have been titled, “The Race to Tunis” since all of our battles were from the opening stages of the campaign) was another battle for Longstop Hill. For our grand finale, this would be a large and complex game for six players.
Background: Our previous game, which depicted the battle for Longstop Hill on 22-23 December, ended in a draw, with both sides contesting the summit of Point 290 (see our previous report). In the historical battle, on 23 December the German 1st Battalion, 69th PanzerGrenadier (Pz.Gd.) Rgt. attacked the hill, and by 1500, they had driven the American 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Rgt. almost completely off of the hill. At 1600, an American counterattack, supported by British artillery, failed to retake the hill, and the Americans were forced to fall back and take up defensive positions to the west and south.
To continue the historical action, the British battalion of Coldstream Guards was ordered to return to the hill and retake it. The Guards moved into position during the night of 23-24 December. At 1700 on 24 December, the Guards attacked and recaptured Point 290. During the night, the Guards also occupied Point 243, but only temporarily. The survivors of the 1st Bn., 69th Pz.Gd. Rgt. were left holding onto the foot of the hill on its eastern end, and at some point during the night of 24-25 December, the Pz.Gd. reoccupied Point 243.
To restore the situation, the Germans received reinforcements in the form of the 2nd Bn./69th Pz.Gd. Rgt. along with armored elements of the 7th Panzer Rgt. The 1st Bn./69th Pz.Gd. was ordered to pin the Allies on the summit while the reinforcements executed a pincers attack around the western and eastern ends of the hill. The attack began at 0700 on 25 December. That is when this scenario begins.
Pages 341-343 of this book provide a more complete background:
https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-MTO-NWA/USA-MTO-NWA-17.html
Terrain: The size of our table was 14 X 5 feet, with the long axis running SW-NE, with the hill placed in the NE half. We laid out the hill exactly as in our previous game, and also set up terrain beyond the NE, SE, and SW sides of the hill (the NW side of the hill ran all the way to that edge of the table). The two feet between the hill and the NE end of the table were flat, open farmland. The one foot wide strip between the hill and the SE side of the table contained the Halte deel Heri train station and a small farm with enclosed fields and orchards. The six feet between the hill and the SW end of the table were mostly open farmland, with some orchards and low rises. Two rain-swollen streams crossed the table between the hill and the farm of Chassart Teffaha which was located near the SW end of the table. Two farm tracks ran around the NW and SE sides of the hill and intersected at this farm, crossing the streams over culverts. The hill itself was roughly 6 X 4 feet, with Point 290 in the center and Point 243 about 12 inches to the north. In addition to all of the other undulations on the surface of the hill, a long finger extended to the south, ending at a knoll on the southern tip of the hill.
Terrain Effects: The hill was covered with brush which limited line-of-sight to 8 inches (unless the LOS passed over the brush due to undulations of the ground). The hill was impassible to wheeled vehicles, but could be traversed by tanks with a successful cross check. The streams were impassible to all vehicles except at the culverts, but infantry could ford them at half speed. Due to the muddy conditions, all off-road movement was at the “terrain” rate. The farm tracks were rated as “cross country” for movement.
Objectives: Our objectives reflected the German plan to force the Allies off the hill by surrounding it, while also giving the Germans the option of making a direct assault on the two summits. The five objectives were:
–Point 243
–Point 290
–The Halte deel Heri train station and the small farm on the SE side of the hill
–The knoll at the southern tip of the hill
–The Chassart Teffaha farm near the SW end of the table
The side that controlled the majority of the objectives at the end of the game would be the winner.
Orders of Battle: In designing our OOBs, we consulted the historical sources, and also accounted for the losses that some units had taken in our previous game. That gave us forces that were a bit too big for our number of players and our available time, so we reduced everything by 1/3, which resulted in these orders of battle in the game:
Germans (all Confident Veteran):
–1st Bn., 69th Pz.Gd. Rgt.: One company of Pz.Gd. with three platoons; 4 X HMGs; and 3 X 8.0 cm mortars.
–2nd Bn., 69th Pz.Gd. Rgt: Two companies of Pz Gd. each with three platoons; 4 X HMGS. Motorized if desired.
–Elements of 7th Panzer Rgt.: One company of tanks, with 5 X Pz.III and 3 X Pz.IV
–Artillery Support: Two batteries of off-table 105mm artillery and two forward observers.
Allies:
–British Coldstream Guards (Confident/Fearless Trained): Two rifle companies — each with two platoons; 4 X HMGs; 4 X ATRs
–US 1st Bn., 18th Infantry Rgt. (Confident Green): One rifle company with three platoons; 3 X LMGs; 3 X 60mm mortars; 2 X bazookas, 3 X 37mm ATGs
–US Combat Engineer Platoon (Confident Trained): One platoon with 2 X HMGs, 37mm ATG, 3 X bazookas and a supply truck. One hasty minefield can be deployed at the start of the game, and the supply truck, along with a squad, can lay one more hasty minefield during the game.
–French Tirailleurs (Confident Trained): One company with two platoons, 2 X HMGs, and no AT weapons. (These troops had arrived just before the battle started.)
–British Artillery Support (Confident Trained): Two batteries of off-table 25-pdr. artillery and two forward observers with trucks.
Deployment:
Both sides indicated their set up and entry areas on a map without knowing the other side’s deployments.
Before the Allies deployed, we asked the German commanders if they wanted their 1st Bn. to make a probing attack on the hill during the night before the battle. Unknown to the German players, if they had said yes, then we would have informed them that Point 243 was unoccupied and allowed the 1st Bn. to set up on that summit. However, the German commanders did not want to risk this isolated company before the expected reinforcements arrived at 0700 and declined to probe the hill, thus 1st Bn. was set up in a dug-in defensive position on the extreme eastern end of the hill and in the adjacent farmland facing Halte deel Heri. The Allies were then allowed to occupy Point 243, and they did so.
The Germans were also given the choice of having their reinforcements arrive from the NW or the NE, or from both directions (historically the Germans chose both). The German commanders opted to have all their reinforcements enter from the NW — with one Pz.Gd. company going directly up the hill toward the summits, while the second company and the tanks moved around the hill through the farmland.
One forward observer was placed on the table with the 1st Bn. and the other FO entered with the 2nd Bn.
The Allies were given these conditions regarding their deployment:
–The Guards had to set up in their historical location, on and around Point 290. This area could include Point 243. The British set up one HMG on Point 243 and another HMG on Point 290, with a platoon in the ravine between them. The other platoons set up in an arc around Point 290, oriented toward the SE.
–The newly arrived French Tirailleurs had to be set up within their historical area to the rear of the hill, and they chose to occupy the long finger and the knoll that was the objective on the southern end of the hill.
–The Americans were allowed to set up anywhere. Two platoons, two LMGs, the ATGs, the bazookas and the mortars were set up in and around the train station and the farm in the SE. The third platoon with a LMG was set up on Point 243.
–The US combat engineers were set up in a reserve position to the rear, on a low rise along the SE edge of the table. One minefield was laid across the farm track coming from the NW, and the supply truck and one squad were deployed next to it, ready to start laying the second minefield that would connect the first minefield to the southern knoll.
–The two British forward observers had to be placed in the Chassart Teffaha farm. Historically, all the FOs were recalled to this farm during the night before the battle. (One wonders why… to attend a staff meeting..? to enjoy Christmas breakfast..? our sources do not say.) This would limit what could be observed until the FOs redeployed during the game.
–All Allied units could begin the game dug in.
(Comment: From their deployments, it seems that the Allied commanders were expecting the enemy’s main effort to be coming around the hill along the SE corridor, when in fact the German Schwerpunkt would be coming from the NW. We were set for a dynamic game!)
Moves:
The game began with a preliminary bombardment by the Germans on Point 243, which pinned the defenders and eliminated some British teams in the ravine. The Germans then moved their reinforcements onto the table from the NW. One Pz.Gd. company advanced directly up the hill toward the two summits. Two platoons of the second Pz.Gd. company followed the tanks along the NW farm track while the third platoon remained off table, mounted on its trucks. Advancing fire from the tanks destroyed the engineer supply truck and the squad accompanying it. The 1st. Pz.Gd. Bn. detached one platoon to advance toward Point 243 from the NE. German mortars began to bombard the train station.
The Allies responded by moving one company of Guards across Point 290 to confront the Germans advancing from the NW. This resulted in a close combat in which both sides got chewed up pretty badly before the British prevailed. The Americans started to bombard the 1st Pz.Gd. Bn. with their mortars. One British FO team jumped into its truck and started a long drive toward the train station, while the second FO moved up to the rooftop of the Chassart Teffaha farm.
By Turn 2, the Germans were launching their first assaults on Point 243. Although the defenders were pinned down, defensive fire from the American platoon and LMG, plus the British HMG, repelled all of the assaults. This position would prove to be a tough nut for the Germans to crack. Elsewhere on the hilltop, the Pz.Gds. and the Guards continued their mutual destruction, with the Guards suffering heavily from the automatic weapons fire of the Pz.Gds.
Elsewhere, the Germans added the fire from one of their batteries to the mortar bombardment falling on the train station area. In the NW, the Panzers moved forward at tactical speed, shooting ineffectively at the dug-in French holding the knoll.
After rallying, the Germans made another series of assaults on Point 243. Although the British HMGs had been eliminated by this point, an assault by the 1st Pz.Gd. platoon from the NE was repulsed with further losses. However, a second assault from the NW eliminated the remaining American defenders and carried the position.
Facing no opposition that could hurt them, the German Panzers had several options. They could have sent a platoon to capture the objective at the Chassart Teffaha farm that was only occupied by a FO team, but they did not do this. (The Germans commanders explained after the game that they did not want to dissipate their armored force by going after this distant objective, and added that they had suspected that the Allies would receive reinforcements that could have secured the farm before the Panzers reached it — that suspicion proved to be unfounded.) Instead, the Germans sent their Pz.IVs around the southern side of the hill, while the Pz.IIIs went directly up the slope of the long finger, intent on capturing the objective on the southern knoll in conjunction with the second company of Pz.Gds. Both of these maneuvers took some time to accomplish, but ensured that the objective on the southern knoll would be securely in German hands at the end of the game.
By the midpoint of the game, both sides had very few men remaining in action on the hilltop. The Germans survivors from the 2nd. Bn. were left holding some weak outposts on the summits and were under British artillery fire. The British Guards and the American platoon had been completely wiped out. To contest the summits, the French tirailleurs were ordered to leave their foxholes on the finger and move toward Point 290. At the edge of the summit, the French came under artillery fire and dug in.
With the American presence in and around the train station having been greatly reduced by artillery and mortar fire, the German commander of 1st Bn. judged that the moment was ripe to assault the station. He ordered a half-strength platoon to mop up the few defenders remaining in the station. He then personally led the remainder of his infantry with the remaining HMGs up the hillside to reinforce the Germans on the summits.
The German assault on the train station lost three teams to light defensive fire, which was very unlucky, but the fourth and final team made it into close combat — and proceeded to miss! The Americans counterattacked and took out the last German team, thus eliminating any imminent German threat to the station.
Adding to the German woes, the P.zGds climbing the hill came under concentrated British artillery fire (the FO had reached the farm near the station by this point). The Germans were cut to pieces by this bombardment and were reduced to two Pz.Gd. teams and one HMG, plus the company commander.
Seeing the German company opposed to them reduced to remnants by this devastating fire, the surviving Americans of the platoon at the train station sallied out to destroy the remaining Germans on the hillside, as well as the German mortars. To accomplish both tasks, the Americans had to split their small platoon. Unfortunately for the Americans, neither small force was big enough for the job, and they were wiped out by the few remaining Germans.
Very late in the game, with a view of the Panzers and Pz.Gds. possibly breaking through the US combat engineers and taking the train station area from the south, the Germans brought the Americans defending the small farm in the SE under artillery fire. However it was too late in the day for this maneuver to succeed.
On the two summits, the French and German outposts on opposite sides of Point 290 were facing almost certain death if they left their foxholes, so both sides stayed put and maintained the stalemate there.
Thus, at the end of the game, the Allies held the Halte deel Heri train station and the Chassart Teffaha farm, the Germans held the southern knoll and Point 243, and Point 290 was contested. With both sides controlling two objectives, this epic game ended in a draw!
Historically, the German pincer attack captured the train station and overran the French tirailleurs, which forced the British Guards to retire from the summits before they were surrounded. Thus the historical battle was a German victory, and the Germans christened this war-torn place as “Christmas Hill”…!
With reduced forces operating on a large table, and blind deployments, our game gave both sides the opportunity to attempt some grand tactical maneuvers and the game really felt like a multi-battalion battle. This was a fun game to design and to play, and with the different deployment options available to both sides, the scenario seems to have some replay value. Most of the scenarios in our “Race to Tunis” theme were pretty good, and were rather unique in terms of forces and terrain. Given the small sizes of the actual battles, we could play the battles at almost a 1:1 figure scale. We are looking forward to playing the next stage of the campaign at a later date!
- TJ