Title: Waurichen (Allied AI)
Type: US Attack
Countries: US-Germany
Date: 6 October, 1944
Location: Waurichen, Germany (north of Aachen)
Weather: Clear
Turns: 30

Author: Nicholas Bell (nbell@icdc.com)

Description:

Task Force 1, CCB, US 2nd Armored Division Assaults Waurichen, Germany, 6 October 1944

On September 19, 1944, 19th Corps (Gen. Corlett) issued orders to 
the 2d Armored Division (Gen. Harmon) to prepare to breach the 
Westwall in conjunction with the 30th Division.  19th Corps would
be the northern pincher in an attack designed to encircle Aachen. 
Corlett planned to have 30th Division make the initial assault, 
and have 2d Armored pass thru and guard the corps left flank as 
30th Division continued the attack southeast. General Harmon had 
more ambitous plans for his division.  He tasked both Combat 
Commands to prepare to drive east and establish bridgeheads across 
the Roer River, the next major obstacle after the Westwall.

CCB during this period consisted of the three battalions of the 
67th Armored Regiment and the 1st Battalion, 41st Armored Infantry 
Regiment.  CCB was divided into Task Force 1 (Col. Disney) with 
3/67 Armor and one company of 1/41 Armored Infantry, and Task 
Force 2 (Col. Hinds) with 2/67 Armor and two companies of 
1/41 Armored Infantry.Attached to CCB on a more-or-less permanent 
basis was the 771st TD Battalion. 

The operation began on October 2, 1944 with the 30th Division 
crossing the Wurm River (really just a creek) and slowly fighting 
thru the pillboxes and obstacles of the "Siegfried Line" (as it 
was known the Americans).  German resistance was staunch, and 
Harmon requested permission to insert 2d Armored into the 
brideghead to prevent a German counterattack from crushing the 
infantry of the 30th Division.  Harmon was granted permission by 
corps and sent CCB under General I.D. White across bridges just 
finished by the engineers.  The movement was slowed by heavy 
German artillery fire on the crossing sites.  Task Force 1 
managed to clear the bridges mid-afternoon on October 3rd. 
Col. Johnson, commander of the 117th Infantry Regiment, 30th 
Division committed his reserve battalion, 3/117, to finish 
clearing Palenberg and to push through Uebach.  TF 1 was to 
work thru 3/117's lines and open up manuever room for the 
remainder of the CCB working its way forward.  1/117 was still 
clearing out pillboxes but would provide flank protection. The 
fighting was heavy and slow.  German artillery is mentioned as 
being as intense as American artillery fire.  By evening of 
October 3rd TF 1 had reached the northern edge of Uebach.

Meanwhile, the German corps commander, Gen. Koechling was 
attempting to put forces together for a counterattack.  Unable 
to get all forces in place in a timely fashion, the 
counterattacks were launched piecemeal against various portions 
of the American bridgehead. 

One of these counterattacks was launched against TF 1 at Uebach 
at dawn on October 4th. TF 1 had been given the mission of 
capturing Beggendorf with a small crossroads hamlet as an 
intermediate objective.  While moving out, TF ran headlong into 
the German attack force of the 183rd VG Division, backed up by 
elements of an assault gun brigade. During the engagement, 3/67 
met 7 assault guns and claimed 3 (or all of them according to 
another source) for the loss of two M4s.  Artillery fire stopped 
the German infantry attack.  TF 1 then pushed east about 800 yards 
under heavy direct and indirect fire.  US infantry losses are 
described as heavy and 11 Shermans were lost.

TF 2 came into the battle later (delayed by heavy artillery fire at the bridge sites) and launched it's attack in the afternoon. Although casualties were inflicted while moving through town (including 2 successive infantry battalion commanders), once the attack got moving, NO casualties were suffered and TF 2 took it's objective (Hoverhof and the high ground just east of it).  TF 2 used artillery and tank fire in heavy doses to convince the Germans to come out of their pillboxes and bunkers and surrender.

On October 5th, the battle continued in the same general vein as the day before, with TF 2 successfully attacking north to Frelenberg, Muthegen, and Schloss Breill. To the east, TF 1 was reinforced by 1/67 Armor.   It didn't help much and the TF only gained a few hundred yards, although they had neared Waurichen before being driven back.  1/67 lost 9 M4s and 1 M5 in this engagement.  No losses are mentioned for 3/67, but they must have been severe, for at the end of the day 50% of CCBs tanks were destroyed or damaged.

On October 6th, TF 2 continued to attack north against increasing resistance. The Germans finally got some AT guns and assault guns, in addition to a number of infantry units pulled from other sectors, in front of CCB.

TF1 was assigned the objective of Waurichen several kilometers to the east and ran straight into these reinforcements.

PLAYERS NOTE:  

This scenario is best played PBEM or as the the Allies against computer-controlled  German player.  In the defense you will find that the German AI is a bit too aggressive.

If you desire to play as the German against computer-controlled Allied player, use the Waurichen (Allied AI) scenario.  In this scenario I have eliminated the secondary roads in the area of the US attack and made some slight changes to the farm fields.  These changes stop the AI from bunching up and using the roads. Instead the AI will advance on a more realistic broad front. In playtest I found the AI controlled player was interesting and enjoyable.  While unlikely to beat a human player, it at least provided some pretty interesting situations and had me worried on a few occasions.

If you are wondering why the map is so large, this is because I had intended to depict the historical US line-of-departure (LOD) which is the ridge line around Wiessenhaus.  During testing it became quickly evident that the extra turns required to move the US forces toward the objective added nothing to scenario.  But at least you can see the distances involved in an actual attack rather than the usual Combat Mission battle scenario which places the opposing forces close to each other.

The US force deployment may look a little odd. I have done this in order to better recreate the historical sequencing of units in the action.  You can of course redeploy the units as you see fit.

Note that the historical ground conditions were actually damp, but I found that damp conditions in conjunction with the various terrain used to depict the farm fields caused too many vehicles to bog down.

The attack must proceed across wide open farm fields, not the typical "close" terrain of many Combat Mission scenarios.  This is not my decision.  A 1:25,000 scale topographic map from "The Siegfried Line Campaign" was used to construct the map.  High resolution satellite imagery from www.terraserver.com confirmed the treeless nature of the farm fields. Be sure to "walk" the terrain.  It looks flat at first glance, but that is quite deceiving!

Research for this scenario comes from my original 1996 research for the HPS Simulations "Panthers in the Shadows" Campaign add-on "Hell on Wheels". The following sources provided information used in this scenario:

"Hell on Wheels: The 2d Armored Division" by  Donald E. Houston, Presido Press, Novato, Calinfornia, 1977.
"Die 9. Panzer Division" by Carl Hans Hermann, Podzun-Verlag, Dorheim, Germany (no copyright date given)
"The Siegfried Line Campaign" by Charles A. McDonald, Center of Military History, United States Army, Washington D.C., 1993.
"Tigers in Combat I" by Wolfgang Schneider, J.J. Fedorowicz Publishing, Winnepeg, Manitoba, 1994.

Historical Results Below:
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The day was clear and the 9th Air Force was active.  The attack began at 7:30 and followed artillery preparatory fires. German artillery, mortar, and MG fire pinned down the infantry.  AT guns and "tanks" (Houston claims they were Panthers and Tigers, but none were in the area) destroyed 21 out of 34 M4's in the initial assault!  The TF then used it's M5s in a "cavalry charge" which overcame the German defenses. Houston states that the light tanks moved so quickly that the Germans couldn't track them.  He also states that the M5s drove circles around the Tiger tanks so fast that the Tigers withdrew. Well, it makes a good story anyway. But since there were no Tigers involved, I must conclude that perhaps this part of the story has been confused with actions in November, during which the 2nd Armored Division had numerous encounters with the 9th Panzer Division and 506th Tiger Battalion. Nevertheless, despite TF1's heavy losses, the western edge of Waurichen was taken.  Company C, 3/67 Armor Battalion (M5) received a Presidential Citation for it's action on this day.  Houston does indicate that a number of M5s were eventually lost, and that the company also received support from the rest of the Task Force.

The following day, October 7th, TF 1 was ordered to clear the rest of Waurichen and the nose of a low ridge just to the southeast of the town (you'll see it).  But first they dealt with a counterattack which achieved little and netted the Americans 100 prisoners. They then pushed on and took the rest of the village. No mention of American losses is made, but the TF was stood down and dug-in.

