Autumn Fog - River Assaults

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Autumn Fog recreates the difficult terrain in the Ardennes and Eifel areas. Some planning is required when it comes to assaulting river crossings with blown bridges. In this scenario, 'motorized' or 'mixed' movement units cannot cross most rivers unless at a bridge. Only 'foot movement' units can cross most rivers, and usually require the aid of a qualified engineer unit. Qualified engineer units are those with an asterisk* in their unit name. There are engineer units that do not qualify to assist in river crossings, they have no asterisk* in their unit name.

One way to tell a units movement properties is to check the Unit Report dialogue.

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Let's take a look at a typical river assault. The location in question is the Ouren Bridge over the Our River. Note that the bridge is blown.

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The location is defended by an infantry battalion with an artillery section, both dug in. In position for the assault are the 12SS Pz and elements of the 277th VG.

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Here is the Attack Planning Box. There are artillery units on the right side available for support, but none committed yet. In the blue outlined box are the seven units adjacent to Ouren, in position to attack. Notice that three of the units have flags next to them, four units do not. The units with no flag are not eligible to attack Ouren, as they are motorized and cannot move into the hex (a river with a blown bridge). This can also be seen by moving the mouse pointer over each unit and the string at the bottom of the box will give you the status of each unit, in the case of KG 26 and the other motorized units, they '... can not attack'.

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Here is the planned attack. A bunch of artillery has been ordered to support, the 11-11 Inf Reg and the 5-7 Eng unit have been ordered to direct assault, the 2-4 Bridge unit has been left out of the action, and the other four units have been set to Local Reserve.

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Here are the combat results. Notice that the motorized units that were in Local Reserve 'supported' the attack, and the defending units were retreated. Even the 2-4 Brucko bridge unit that was not in Reserve status supported the attack. Results do vary, I've seen some combats where some units do not support. But in general, the results seen below can be expected.

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Now is the difficult part, advancing into the blown bridge hex and then repairing the bridge so that your motorized elements can get moving. The terrain is so difficult (evergreen forests, steep embarkments, rocky gorges, etc.) that it will take most of any units movement allowance to enter. In this case, the bridge unit can go, but no other unit can (usually you can get at least one other foot unit in there, but sometimes not). And the bridge unit expends it's entire movement allowance (in this case) to enter the hex. It will have to wait until next turn to repair the bridge (as noted by the asterisk* in its' unit name, it can repair a bridge). In some cases a bridge unit will have 1 movement point left after entering the hex, allowing the bridge to be built (lucky you if this happens!).

This is tough and it sucks, but it's done this way on purpose. The scenario has half day turns, and in some cases it took the Germans several days to get a good bridge in place, one strong enough to allow all the heavy equipment and tanks to cross. Note that you can still move foot units across river hexes if they are aided by other units with 'ferry' capacity. So the assaults can move forward, just without the motorized elements until a good bridge is in place.

Cheers!

[larryfulkerson]

Great presentation.  Thanks.  Love the graphics.

[sPzAbt653]

Thanks Mr. Fulkerson, all I know about screen shots I learned from you!

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The RAD* units represent the Reichsarbeitsdienst units that were used for various labor purposes. In December 1944 they were used to repair damage done to roads, rail lines and bridges by the Allied bombers.

These units contain engineers squads, which means they can repair bridges (and they have an asterisk in their unit name to signify this). They also have ferry-bridge teams, which means they can assist some units in crossing some of the rivers. They move very slowly by design, as they aren't intended to be combat units. The best use for them in Autumn Fog is to split them into two or three subunits and place them on road and rail bridges, back from the front line area. If the Allies bomb bridges in the rear areas, they can be easily repaired by the RAD*.

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The O.Todt Bde* units represent Organization Todt units that were used for military construction projects. In December 1944 they were used for various front line purposes, such as clearing and improving roads, repairing rail lines and bridge repair.

These units contain engineers squads, which means they can repair bridges (and they have an asterisk in their unit name to signify this). They also have ferry-bridge teams, which means they can assist some units in crossing some of the rivers. They contain Military Police Squads, so they can assist in reducing traffic penalties. They have Rail Repair crews so that they can repair broken rail lines. These units can be divided into subunits and used for various purposes, such as keeping them at the head of an advance in order to reduce traffic penalties and to assist in bridge repair and river crossings.

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The Brucko units represent Brückenbau bridging engineers. Those with an asterisk in their unit name contain engineer squads and can repair bridges and assist in river crossing. Those without an asterisk in their unit name have no engineers squads and may not repair bridges but they can assist in river crossing.

By December 1944 the German Army was experiencing shortages of all types of equipment, including heavy bridging materials. In the Ardennes, the Germans had a limited ability to provide crossings for heavy equipment, artillery, assault guns and tanks, especially the 60 ton Tigers. In Autumn Fog, only units with an asterisk in their unit name can repair bridges in order to provide 'heavy' crossing points.

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Various Pionier units are available, but without the asterisk in their name, they cannot repair bridges. Most can assist in river crossings, but otherwise they function as normal combat units.

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German Formations that contain bridge repair *units*:

(not including RAD* units)

15.Armee
LXXXII Armee Korp (south area)
1st SS Pz Korp
1st SS Pz Div
2nd SS Pz Div
12th SS Pz Div
H.Goring Pz Div
2.Panzer Div
9.Panzer Div
116.Panzer Div
130.Panzer Lehr
GrossDeutschland Div
5.FJD
18.VolksGrenadier Div
26.VolksGrenadier Div
62.VolksGrenadier Div
352.VolksGrenadier Div
363.VolksGrenadier Div