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Tunisia, February 14, 1943, German army of 100 units opposed to USA army of 148 units for a battle of complexity 0.85 at Company(I) level on a 2.5 Km/Hex map for 20 turns of Half Day each. by Greg Allen submited on 17-12-2002 Rugged-Defense Playing Statistics
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KASSERINE 43E / 43W / 43EPO SCENARIO VER. 1.4 DESIGNER'S NOTES: CHANGES SINCE VER. 1.3 - Changed unit counter colors to use Ralph Loewen's new graphic set. Changed 1st Armored CCA, CCB, and CCC to HQ units. Changed 1st Ranger from a commando to a heavy weapons mountain unit. Reduced proficiency of all HQ units on both sides. Victory point changes. Further ToE, force support, supply, and deployment mofifications. A few map (river) changes due to combat abnormalities around Sbietla. I would have wished for rivers/wadi's were along the hexside, not in the middle of it. More P.O. improvements. Spread out reinforcement entries, due to a few game crashes. I made a third scenario (43EPO), this is just for a single German Player against the computer. I did this because I could not get the Allied units that show up as reinforcements, to leave the map edge (game problem). I will delete it if there is an improvement in this. I deployed these Allied units where they were historically, when the Germans entered the region. THE SCENARIOS - I decided to re-do these game scenarios using the 2.5km scale and 2 turns per day. It seemed more appropriate for this battle, due to the narrow avenues of attack. These scenarios though not perfect, is a lot closer to historical. If you look at my sources, you can see I spent considerable time and effort, trying to make this scenario as accurate as possible. I am not going to make a issue of the mistakes in the original scenario, just to say there is a considerable difference, if you do a little comparison. There are 3 scenarios: "Kasserine 43 E" is the historical one, and "Kasserine 43 W" is Rommel's alternative western attack (hypothetical) through the Fondouk Gap area. This also includes 2 additional Italian armored battalions, that where in the area, but were not involved in the historical scenario. So you can try out a variant. And the third (43EPO) is for a single German player against the computer. I also have to say currently, this scenario is much better as a two-player game, than playing against the P.O. This is a strange battle for the P.O. to react to well, since in this battle is fluid, and there is a lot of blocking terrain. DESIGN DECISIONS - All of the HQ units have their historical leader listed in CAPITALIZED letters, with the exception of the Art X HQ for the U.S. 9th Infantry Division. Avoid using your brigade and divisional HQ's on the front lines, since I have made their support units seperate (as they really were). So obviously, they don't defend very well (besides having low profiency and combat value). HQ's should not be the strongest units on the map. This is how I think they should be represented, and is different from the other scenario designers. My map is closer to 3.0 km in scale, due to being transfered from source maps. Most of the towns on this map were not of any combat value (which is why they are missing). Many were nothing more than a RR Station, was usually also a water source, and or had a few buildings. If you didn't do research about Kasserine itself, you might think it was a significant town? It consisted of a rail station and approx- imately 40 odd buildings (in 1943), all in about a 1/2 square mile, in otherwise completely open terrain. The only towns big enough to warrant a combat value were Sbietla, Tebessa, and Thala. Most towns and villages in the desert were considered poor places to defend. Unless they were very large, since the area around it was usually open. Should the defenders want to withdraw, the enemy could observe it happening. Or could be easily surrounded by a mobile attacker. Not to mention, the fragile single story straw and mud brick buildings that didn't offer much protect- ion, especially if an artillery barrage ensued or there was direct fire from large caliber weapons. So, that is why most towns were left out, for combat purposes. Olive groves are represented by light woods. The French 58mm and 78mm mortars listed in their TOE, were actually 60mm and 81mm mortars respectively. They have the same combat value, but were used to keep them seperate from American replacements, since some of the French and Americans fought in the same Corps. UNIT NOTES - The U.S. 1st Armored Division were seperated into 3 Combat Commands in addition to being disorganized, due to some of the tank companies being upgraded from M3 Grants to M4 Shermans. Of Course, this still doesn't explain Fredendall's (commander U.S. II Corps) decision to do the same thing with all of his Divisions. One explanation is that the Americans were attempting to bolster the French Army's mixed morale. This also made it possible to begin training the French to use new weapons (that hadn't arrived in significiant quantities yet). This posture was instrumental in putting both armies at a disavantage when the German offensive started. The U.S. 1st Armored Division's engineer unit (16th battalion) was not combat ready, and is only 50 percent effectiveness. So, it might be wise to stack it with another unit. II Corps Personnel Irregular Unit represents hospital, military police and civilian engineers that was created for the defence of Sbeitla. Normally, these specialized men were far too valuable to be pressed into combat. But they were in the town and the situation was obviously desperate when the line near Sidi Bou Sid collapsed. So they were used in the town's defense. A poor unit as it may be. XII Air Corps Irregular Unit represents ground and civilian personnel that came from the abandonment of the airstrips at Thelepe and Feriana. Same as above. STRATEGY AND SCENARIO PLAY - Due to the situation in this scenario, I recommend that if you play against the P.O. (computer player) you should play as Germans, for the best challenge. If you are playing PBEM, be aware that the Germans basically get to move twice since all the Allies are Static, and are released on game turns 2 through 4 due to them being surprised. The Allies are spread out all over the battlefield (no, I did not set them up this way as a cruel joke), they are all in various states of delay, due to historical de- ployments and historical reactions. You should try to gather your forces together as quickly as possible in defence of the objectives. Then as soon as possible, get prep- ared for Rommel's German DAK Assualt Gruppe/Italian Centauro Units entering the map, from the southern left edge of the map, near Feriana and Thelepe on turn 7 (if you are playing the historical scenario). If you are playing the 43W, then it will come from the Foundouk Gap (northeast edge) area. As Germans, you should be as aggressive as possible, but not forget to keep somewhat of a continous front!, due to the Allies having more units (especially on the east edge), and who are capable of turning the flanks on you, since they have good mobility. This is very important for the entire length of all of these scenarios. In addition, be careful especially attacking through the Foundouk Gap area early, since the Allies have allot of forces (especially armored) waiting to be released. Make sure you don't advance too far (even if the temptation, may be there) where you might be vulnerable to counterattack. Both players should pay attention to the weather, since rain can effect combat. SPECIAL THANKS- I would like to thank all the people who were involved in the playtesting of these scenarios. I especially like to mention Jim Gorman, Richard Hamilton, Thomas Jansson, Ralph Loewen, Larry McCoy, and John Williams with all their extra help and comments, to help make these better scenarios. Please feel free to comment - Greg Allen EastnFront@aol.com Crusader 41 Fix (Enhanced) and additional 2.5km - 300 version next. |