KG von Luck
By Yong Park

Scenario:     
KG von Luck – Complexity 7

Date:         
18 June, 1944 – 14 Turns

Location:     
Emieville-Cagny, 8km NE of Caen, France:

Type:
Operation Goodwood was Montgomery's best hope of effecting a breakout in the Caen sector in Normandy. After intense "carpet bombing", Monty sent his armor forward with very thin infantry support on a narrow front. The 11th Armored passed west and south, and the Guards Division, portrayed here, was second in line. For a time it appeared the British would break through near Cagny, but Major Hans von Luck rallied disparate elements of his Kampfgruppe to stem the British armored tide and bring Goodwood to a grinding halt with a few well positioned 88s and a company of Tigers.

Forces:    
The British forces consisted of mainly Cromwell Medium Tanks and Firefly Tanks with small Infantry forces. All of the British forces were located in northwest area of the map around Cuverville and Demouville.  There was no British infantry forces to speak of in the beginning of the engagement.  

The German forces were rather spread out.  200th Assault Gun Battalion was located in Grenthville which was located in SW of the map.  A platoon of StuG IIIG is located in Le Mensil, located near the western edge of the map.  A platoon of Pz VIB (King Tiger) along with 4 Engineer companies were located in Emieville.  LW group was located in Banneville, and 10th Panzer Pioneer group was located in Cagny.  There was a regiment of Panzergrenadier located around Troarn, which was located at the NE edge of the map.  An Flak 88 mm AA gun and 1 PzJg III/IV 88 along with half tracks were located in Cagny.  Frenouville was where all Howitzer halftracks were located.  No air nor smoke was allocated for this battle.

Objectives:     
Mostly, 30 victory points were located in small towns.  60 victory points were located in Cagny, Le Poirier and Grenthville.  Troarn had the 100 point HEX.

Major Defeat       0
Minor Defeat       25
Minor Victory     75
Major Victory     100

Terrain:     
Pretty flat terrain all around except for near Troarn where there were forests and rolling hills.  Slight haze but good line of site.

Opponent:     
Stuart Wilson  

Even before my first turn, my opponent knocked out my PzJg III/IV 88, 1 88 mm Flak AA gun and 3 StuG IIIG.  Luckily, 88mm AA, Pz VIBs as well as StuG IIIG were doing some damage to Firefly tanks and Cromwell tanks.  I also noticed that my opponent was going after three objectives at once: Banneville, Emieville, and Grenthville.  

Considering the number of enemy tanks that I saw, I did not know how I could handle them.  Only thing going for me was that I did not see any infantry support for British tanks.  Therefore, I decided to fire away the tanks approaching Le Mensil with my StuG IIIGs.  Once the enemy got close I relocated all my StuG IIIG back to Grenthville.  Only option I saw was to draw the enemy into Grenthville and fire away with Panzerfausts and StuG IIIGs.  Also, 88 mm AA east of town did plenty of damage before getting destroyed.  Because of shear numbers, it was difficult to stop all of the Cromwell tanks.  Even with all the reinforcements south of Grenthville, my opponent was able to take the town by turn 9.  By this time, all my StuG IIIGs were destroyed.  I moved all my remaining infantry forces toward Le Poirier to make another stand.  To my surprise, the enemy did not follow me toward Le Poirier.  It was likely that the enemy could not sustain continued attack.

My option in Emieville was similar.  Even though Pz VIBs were extremely useful in inflicting heavy damage to approaching Firefly tanks, there were just too many of them.  Therefore, I draw them into town and started to blast away with Engineers and PzVIBs.  Once the British tanks were in the town, they were pretty much a dead duck against German Engineers.  In this town, my force was still able to hold the eastern edge by turn 10.  Unfortunately, all my Pz VIB went up in flames.  My Engineer platoon was finally able to fight back with Pz IVH from Le Poirier.  Somehow, 4 companies of Engineers and 3 companies of Pz IVH were able to halt about a Regiment of Firefly/Sherman tanks.  I also learned that destroying everything was not always necessary.  Disrupting enemy units were just as effective in slowing their advances.

Unfortunately, the units in Banneville were helpless against the British forces.  This was the only advance where my enemy had any infantry support.  Also, this was the only place where my opponent had decisive advantage.  Only unit that was doing any damage was Panzergrenadier units and StuH 42s.  Needless to say, just about all my LW units were overrun.  I was sending all my reinforcements coming from the southeastern edge of the map of toward Troarn including 3 companies of Pz IVH.  By turn 10, the enemy was able to capture Troarn and its 100 victory point HEX.  At this point, Allies had major victory.  However, this was where the tide turned.  I repositioned 88 mm AA and 75 mm AT guns southwest of Troarn and moved my Panzergrenadiers and Pz IVHs toward Troarn from south.  I also withdrew my forces in Troarn to north.  I was able to pinch the enemy just west of Troarn by Turn 11 and moved toward the town.  It looked like he did not expected this move.  The enemy only had a few armor vehicles west of the city.  With Panzergrenadiers and Pz IVH, I was able to recapture Troarn during Turn 14.  To my surprise, I was able to get minor victory even though the British held Grenthville, Banneville, and parts of Emieville.  The victory margin was based on number of units lost by the British.  

Result:          
German Minor Victory – 78 point.

Lessons:
1. Tanks are terrible in the city Hexes.
2. Engineers and Panzergrenadiers are very useful in defending against enemy tanks in the city.
3. Destroying enemy units is not the only way to slow down the enemy advances.  Disrupting them is equally as effective.
4. Antitank guns are useful in tank defense.
5. Luftwaffe field units were useless.

This tough battle taught me a great deal about defending city Hexes.  With so many British tanks approaching, I was not sure what was the appropriate way to defend all the cities.  Therefore, I just let the enemy come into the cities and slugged out in the city Hexes.  It was a very effective strategy as I was able to gain a victory.  However, the outcome might have been different if my opponent decided to not split up his forces so much.

This scenario was my first West Front PBEM game and second overall.  Also, this was my very first victory.  Stuart was kind enough to guide me through the process since I was still fairly new to the game.  The action was non-stop during this scenario from the beginning.  I highly recommend this scenario.