An Army at Dawn: Big Red One
Scenario Preview, Part Two
By Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
July 2024

I love the Campaign Study format – it’s our excuse to add more story to an existing game, usually something that didn’t fit either because of the topic or the available space.

An Army at Dawn: Big Red One fits both of those descriptions. The core game, Panzer Grenadier: An Army at Dawn, already has 40 scenarios, which is already on the high end for a Panzer Grenadier game (many more than that, and some players shy away, thinking they’ll never play that many). And it has a tight focus on the U.S. 1st Armored Division (and task forces including components of said division alongside others).

That sort of leaves out the famous 1st “Big Red One” Infantry Division, making its exploits in Tunisia the perfect topic for a new Campaign Study. Design Mike Perryman took up that challenge, with a nifty little book of 11 new scenarios for An Army At Dawn (you just need An Army at Dawn to play them).

Let’s have a look at the second, and longest, chapter:

Chapter Twelve
Djebel el Mcheltat
A large horseshoe-shaped mass that dominated the northern side of the Gabes-el Guettar road, Djebel el Mcheltat became an objective of the American II Corps as it fought its way toward Gabes. The high ground dominated the road to Gabes, and had to be taken by the infantry, to allow Task Force Benson from 1st Armored Division to force its way eastwards. Gabes lay on the Mediterranean coast, and its fall would isolate the Axis forces facing the British Eighth Army advancing from Tunisia. Even a creditable threat to Gabes would force an Axis retreat from southern Tunisia. But neither would take place as long as Djebel el Mcheltat remained in the defenders’ hands.

New II Corps commander George S. Patton had eliminated most of the idiocies of his predecessor, Lloyd Fredendall. His divisions fought as complete formations, without their subordinate units broken up and matched with battalions from other divisions into ad hoc task forces (by which means Fredendall had avoided the orders of his supposed superior, Kennth Anderson of British First Army).

“We are trying to be simple,” Patton wrote to Secretary of War George C. Marshall, “not change our plans once made, and keep on fighting.”

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Scenario Forty-Four
Hill 482
28 March 1943
Hill 482 dominated the Djebel el Mcheltat position, and as long as the Axis held it, the Americans could not advance along the Gabes-el Guettar road. Recently the Germans had reshuffled their positions resulting in the 10th Panzer Division's Engineer Battalion taking responsibility for Hill 482’s defenses. To drive them off their positions the 16th Infantry Regiment went forward on the morning of 28 March.

Conclusion
In ten minutes, the 16th Infantry Regiment lost 105 men. The troops pressed forward anyway, but the Germans had a clear view of them from their hilltop fortress and mercilessly poured down automatic weapons fire. Eventually the Americans abandoned the effort, though they would try again the next day with equally disappointing results.

Notes
The Germans are outnumbered and out-gunned, but they hold a strong position and will eventually get the help of accompany of Italian Bersaglieri. It’s still going to be tough to hold on against the American assault.

Scenario Forty-Five
This Place is Hell
28 March 1943
While the 16th Infantry Regiment bled on the slopes of Hill 482, its sister regiment, the 26th Infantry, had the task of clearing the northern section of Djebel el Mcheltat. There they faced a dominating height that allowed full visibility of the flat ground west of the Djebel el Mcheltat, and battle-hardened panzer grenadiers atop the heights of Ras ed Dekhla. The Americans went forward at 0600 and almost immediately came under intense small arms fire.

Conclusion
The 26th Infantry Regiment did better than the 16th Infantry on their right flank and managed to secure a lodgement on the Djebel el Mcheltat, but at a heavy cost. A dispatch from the battlefield described the fighting in four words “This place is hell.” Staff officers claimed that the 1st Infantry Division’s commander, General Terry de la Mesa Allen, “fussed and fumed, lit one cigarette after another, (and) was beside himself” over the division’s lack of progress.

Notes
This is a straight-up infantry fight, with no tanks at all getting in the way as the real soldiers get down to business. The Americans are on the attack, against well-positioned Germans, and they have numbers but in Tunisia you need a lot of numbers to overcome the terrain.

Scenario Forty-Six
Ras ed Dekhla
29 March 1943
The 26th Infantry Regiment’s effort to secure Ras ed Dekhla had been repulsed, but the Americans had secured a small toehold on the Djebel el Mcheltat. Patton, now pressured by Harold Alexander at 18th Army Group as well as British First Army, told Allen at 1st Infantry Division to continue the frontal assault on the heights. The division commander hoped that his 18th Infantry advancing on the left flank of the 26th Infantry would help in this effort.

Conclusion
The Americans had a better day as they drove the defenders from Ras ed Dekhla. In addition, a portion of 18th Infantry Regiment entered the fray on Djebel el Mcheltat, helping to push the defenders eastward. The armor that should have been ready to exploit the infantry’s success did not reach their assembly areas as scheduled, enraging the corps commander and drawing yet more “concern” from higher levels.

Notes
This is an unusual scenario, with the German defending a long tongue of high ground at the Americans coming at them from three sides. While that gives the Americans an edge (that, and their numbers), it’s a strong natural position and the Germans have reinforcements close at hand.

Scenario Forty-Seven
Up the Gumtree Road
29 March 1943 
The Germans had gathered a combined arms force from 10th Panzer Division and held it in reserve around Djebel Hamdai, about three miles to the north-east of Djebel el Mcheltat. While the Americans made their main effort to clear Djebel el Mcheltat in order to send Task Force Benson along the Gabes-el Guettar road with the intention of securing Gabes, the presence of a strong German force on what would become the Americans’ open left flank once they secured the heights presented a serious tactical problem. Even though the main American effort would be to the south of Djebel el Mcheltat, Patton felt it imperative to pin the German armor around Djebel Hamdai in place to prevent them from interfering in the operation.

Conclusion
The Americans met little resistance until reaching the Germans main line of resistance around Djebel Hamdai. Inconclusive fighting for the hilltop finally petered out into an exhausted stalemate. As the American mission had been to pin Battle Group Riemann in place, this was an acceptable outcome. Part of the American force now shifted back to the south to help the hard-pressed Americans to push forward onto Djebel el Mcheltat.

Notes
It’s an American assault on a strong German position backed by armor, and that’s going to be tough. It’s also unusual in having automatic victory provisions, which don’t appear often in Panzer Grenadier; that gives the American player an incentive to press the attack very hard.

Scenario Forty-Eight
Another Go at Hill 482
30 March 1943 
For two days, the Germans atop Hill 482 had rebuffed all efforts by the 16th Infantry Regiment to dislodge them. Now that the 26th Infantry Regiment had driven the Germans from Ras ed Dekhla, securing the 1st Infantry Division’s left flank, they swung south and prepared to make their own attempt to capture Hill 482.

Conclusion
The 16th Infantry had no better luck then their sister regiment in clearing the hill. It didn’t matter as British efforts around Gabes made the position here untenable for the defenders and they drifted away during the night. The Americans had won the battle of Djebel el Mcheltat with a sizable assist from the British around Gabes.

Notes
It’s another close-fought infantry battle in the nasty hill terrain of Tunisia. The Americans have numbers and firepower, the Germans and Italians have position, but now their advantages in the “soft factors” are much slimmer than they were not long ago.

And that’s it for Chapter Twelve. Next time, we dive into Chapter Thirteen.

You can order Big Red One right here.
Please allow an extra three weeks for delivery.

Big Red Package
      An Army at Dawn
      Big Red One
Retail Price: $92.98
Package Price: $85
Gold Club Price: $68
You can order the Big Red Package right here.
Please allow an extra three weeks for delivery.

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Mike Bennighof is president of Avalanche Press and holds a doctorate in history from Emory University. A Fulbright Scholar and NASA Journalist in Space finalist, he has published a great many books, games and articles on historical subjects; people are saying that some of them are actually good. He lives in Birmingham, Alabama with his wife, three children, and new puppy. He misses his lizard-hunting Iron Dog, Leopold.

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