Kasserine 43

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StuccoFresco
Posts: 599
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 10:56 am
Location: Italy

Kasserine 43

Post by StuccoFresco »

After my thunderous defeat at Tannenberg, i choose Kasserine as my next challenge. The Germans are high-quality, so this time I shouldn't lose every fight and I'll be able to maneuver almost freely in a much more open map, with quick and mobile units.

For the first turns I isolated the American garrisons in the first towns, dispatching them with relative ease the next turn. Isolate from supplies, encircle, destroy, it's all relatively easy for the Germans in this phase. Reinforcements arrive near Jebel Aboid and south of Feriana, allowing me to do the same to the American troops there.

After those early victories, I have to choose what to do next. The theoretical objectives are Kasserine itself, Tebessa and THala. I decide the latters are simply too far, and overextending my troops could mean disaster. I decide to focus on Kasserine, Jeben Mrhila and the mountain pass west of Kasserine.

I send the 131st Arm Kampfgruppe, full of Italians, directly at Kasserine. To my surprise there are no enemies in sight so I can occupy it and fortify my position. The 164th Afrika Division takes Bou Chebka and the western pass, and the rest of my army tries to encircle the Americans, that are concentrating around Sebitla.

As the turns goes on, more yankees down on me from every direction, but their efforts aren't focused and many units are sent too deep in my lines, getting themselves prone to be isolated by quick advanced of my mobile forces. I also manage to concentrate my artillery in key positions around Sebitla, hammering at the enemies. Enemy tank battalions are destroyed, and by turn 11 Sebitla has been secured.

Elements of the 10th and 21st Panzerdivisionen take Jeben Mrhila and encircle other American units there.

Kasserine garrison sees a LOT of American units running up to the town, but never attacking. My forces are now 100% entrenched, and the yankees seems to be content just running past the northern outskirts and flowing toward Sebitla.

In the west, the 164th Afrika Division disperse the sparse American troops that hang around the town. By turn 12 i'm able to detach more than half of the division east, to try cutting off the Americans at Kasserine by closing the supply lines between them and Tebessa/Thala.

Overall i'm doing good. The Allies doesn't seem to be able to properly concentrate their forces, and tend to advance too far with armored elements. Perhaps it reflects the "green-ness" of their army at this point of the war. Kasserine was their first true battle, and it's not going well for them. The British are sending the 6th Armored Division to rescue their ex-colony's soldiers. So far, only the 26th Armored Brigade has show up north. I will try a decisive strike at Kasserine before they can put their considerable weight and expertise in the battle.

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StuccoFresco
Posts: 599
Joined: Fri Sep 17, 2004 10:56 am
Location: Italy

RE: Kasserine 43

Post by StuccoFresco »

One turn later i'm able to encircle a sizeable stack of American troops just out of Kasserine, and then destroy it. The British are coming close, and they force my soldier out of my northernmost conquest. Just as I think i might be forced to fall back and reorganize, the scenario ends.

It's been a good run; the air superiority I enjoyed since the first turn helped me with constant interdiction strikes against every enemy troop's movement, and the sheer power and mobility of the Afrika Korps proved too much for the scattered and poorly led American units. The scenario ends with a victory despite Tebessa and Thala still in Allied hands: I don't think i'd be able to take them, and the concentration of American troops around Kasserine was too big to be simply ignored. Maybe limiting my involvement on the Jebel Mrhila to the minimum could have allowed me to send more troops in Bou Chebka's area, secure it earlier and strike north to Tebessa. Still, I'm satisfied with the results.

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