Britain’s Battle of the Bulge:
Scenario Preview, Part One
By Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
June 2021

I imagined that Elsenborn Ridge: Britain’s Battle of the Bulge would be fairly typical of our new line of Campaign Studies: ten Panzer Grenadier scenarios, some background stuff, all comfortably fitting into 16 pages.

But Philippe Léonard does not do things by half measures. From any other designer, eleven Panzer Grenadier scenarios equal 16 pages. Not Philippe; the submission package as usual came in filled
with sidebar explanations, historical background, documentation and maps.

I could have tamped the text and images down to fit into 16 pages, and no one except Philippe would be the wiser. Editing is what I do to everything that flows through here (well, except
for stuff by that guy who proclaimed “My work needs no editting!” – yes, that really happened).

Or I could expand the book and include it all (well, most of it), which would make for a much deeper and more satisfying Campaign Study. So of course, that’s what we did. There are three chapters, starting with a short one with just two scenarios from the earliest clashes as the British XXX Corps took up its positions in front of the German advance. Let’s have a look at them.

Scenario One
Six Kilometers from the Meuse
East of Dinant, Belgium
24 December 1944
In Brussels, 21st Army Group headquarters hurriedly ordered 29th Armoured Brigade to collect their abandoned old Shermans and get back in action to defend the Meuse River line and counter the German advance. The brigade’s 3rd Royal Tank Regiment would defend Dinant. C (Recce) Squadron crossed the bridge and moved up the road to Ciney, followed by the tank squadrons. By 0900 on the 22nd, A Squadron was at Sorinne, C Squadron at Achêne and B Squadron at Dinant supporting G Company of 8th Battalion/The Rifle Brigade. The Tommies found themselves in excellent tank country: open and rolling fields with the frozen ground making the going fair over all the area. The next day, the 23rd, dawned foggier than ever. In the night, Sergeant Baldwin of 8th/Rifle Brigade laid a string of Hawkins mines (anti-tank grenades that looked much like a whiskey flask) that blew an American jeep to pieces. When challenged it had failed to stop.

By Christmas Eve the British armor had put out defensive screens on the far side of the river where excellent hull-down positions gave perfect fields of fire. And though the squadrons went into leaguer, they took certain precautions, one of which was a 17-pounder-armed Sherman Firefly looking east along the Sorinne-Ciney road with an officer in a scout car ahead acting as a Forward Observation Officer. This officer moved into an upstairs room in a cottage and, with a long lead to the wireless set, took up his vigil. He had only been there a short time when he heard German infantry rummaging through the house’s ground floor. Fortunately, he got back to regimental headquarters, using not a little cunning and temporarily abandoning the scout car. On the morning of 24 December, German elements in the pocket of Celles tried to seize Dinant.

Conclusion
Despite the poor visibility it soon became evident that the advance elements of 2nd Panzer Division were trying to push through to Dinant in the mist. Panzers from Battle Group von Cochenhausen moved west from their concentration and approached a crossroads at Celles around 0600. There, a mine disabled the leading Panther. Battle Group von Böhm also attacked early in the morning from Foy-Notre-Dame. At 0815, more German tanks advanced against the two squadrons of the 3rd RTR in Achêne and Sorinne.

First blood went to C Squadron who brewed up a PzIV about 0900. Full marks went to the Firefly gunner as the tank’s commander was busily relieving himself when the Germans appeared. Then the report came that the road between C Squadron at Achêne and A Squadron at Sorinne had been cut by infantry. This made C Squadron's position very insecure so they withdrew to the north-west. The next contact with the enemy was at Boisseilles where A Squadron knocked out a halftrack and another vehicle. An hour later, the mist cleared a little and another troop of A Squadron knocked out two Panthers moving up to Sorinne from Foy-Notre-Dame.

In the end, the Germans received a bloody nose. At least three Panthers and some Panzer IV’s were knocked out without loss for the British. Moreover, machine-gun fire accounted for many panzer grenadiers in their halftracks. Meanwhile, the machine-gun platoon of G Company 8th/Rifle Brigade in their Bren carriers were chased by a six-wheeled armored car and found themselves cut off in the village of Boisseilles. They were saved in the nick of time by 3rd RTR. At the end of the day, the Germans were in Boisseilles and Foy-Notre-Dame in some strength and probably in or had passed through Achêne as well. Dinant was safe. It was now time to take the battle to the enemy.

Historical Notes
Third Royal Tank Regiment
A British armoured “regiment” approximated the strength of an American or German tank battalion, with 666 officers and men, 61 Shermans and 11 light tanks. The 29th Armoured Brigade's three armoured regiments (3rd Royal Tanks, 23rd Hussars and 2nd Fife & Forfar) were supported by a reinforced motorized infantry regiment (battalion), the 8th Battalion of the Rifle Brigade, with a nominal complement of 818 officers and men.

In December 1944, manpower was seriously down after six months of continuous fighting and only 50 of the brigade's Shermans were serviceable. After suffering heavy casualties during Operations Epsom and Goodwood in the summer, Brigadier Roscoe Harvey's men reckoned they were in for another “shambles” when instead of collecting their new Comet tanks after a relaxing Christmas, they were ordered to retrieve their old Shermans, get them running again and move east to the Meuse. Colonel Alan Brown's 3rd Royal Tank Regiment went to Dinant and reaped all the glory for halting 2nd Panzer Division's reconnaissance battalion at Foy-Notre-Dame, while the 23rd Hussars and 2nd Fife & Forfar Yeomanry Regiments guarded the Meuse River crossings at Givet and Namur, before joining in the counter-offensive in January 1945.

Notes
This scenario features relatively small forces ranging across a large battlefield. The Germans are on the attack, riding high in an offensive that has not failed quite yet. They have a balanced mix of tanks and mechanized/motorized infantry, with a couple of Panthers to spearhead the assault.

Scenario Two
Festival Day
Foy-Notre-Dame, east of Dinant, Belgium
25 December 1944
Christmas morning dawned bright and clear. That morning 3rd RTR and 8th/Rifle Brigade were ordered east to attack the villages of Sorinne and Boisseilles. There they would meet up with the U.S. 2nd Armored Division and keep on moving southeast. The advance would be made with two squadrons up: B Squadron on the north route to Sorinne, C Squadron on the south route to Boisseilles, and A Squadron in reserve to follow B Squadron. A platoon of the Rifle Brigade had been attached to A and B Squadrons, and a section of the regiment’s Recce troop attached to C Squadron. At dawn on Christmas Day the battalion drove a German picket out of Boisseilles before reaching Foy-Notre Dame on the flank of the U.S. 82nd Armored Reconnaissance Battalion.

Conclusion
At 0820, sixteen Shermans of 3rd RTR’s C Squadron, a platoon from 8th/Rifle Brigade and a section of recce troops in Bren carriers moved south along the east bank of the Meuse and then advanced east towards Boisseilles (south of Foy-Notre-Dame and northwest of Celles). The column drew fire and made a dash down a forward slope into the village, losing one Recce tank (a Stuart VI) but taking Boisseilles along with some prisoners. The bag included an armored car, a halftrack, a truck and a jeep. However, the position was unpleasant as the village was overlooked by a wooded hill to the northeast (Bois de Geauvelant), occupied by four German tanks, including one Panther. A Firefly maneuvered into position and eventually got a few shots in, whereupon the Panther pulled back.

B Squadron advanced from Dinant and moved east to Sorinne without much difficulty. They knocked out three Panthers and some infantry and then shot up more German vehicles and took prisoners around Foy-Notre-Dame. They then linked up with the U.S. 2nd Armored Division’s 82nd Armored Reconnaissance Battalion. With forces of three nations in the area, the situation was often confusing and when the 82nd made contact with a British unit they fired upon it and destroyed a British Sherman which was advancing towards their lines. The British were then ordered to remain in place.

The Brits had a grandstand view as the US 2nd Armored Division’s Combat Command B Task Force A and swarms of USAAF fighter-bombers swept through the area towards Celles. An over-enthusiastic P38 pilot strafed the British column but fortunately there was only one casualty. On the U.S. side, Task Force A with Shermans in front advanced southwest towards the Bois de Geauvelant with little opposition. As the task force emerged from the trees it came under fire from the farm east of Foy-Notre-Dame and lost three halftracks. The Americans called for air support and P38s bombed/strafed four Panther tanks, temporarily putting them out of action. The column again drew fire near Boisseilles, from the same Panthers which had earlier fired on the British. Two platoons (ten Shermans) of the U.S. 67th Armored Regiment moved in and destroyed three Panthers. By the middle of the afternoon Task Force A had reached the high ground overlooking Celles, blocking the roads to the west and southwest. Battle Groups von Böhm and Cochenhausen had been completely cut off with no chance of rescue. Battle Group Cochenhausen’s crews abandoned or destroyed their vehicles and retreated to the east on foot.

Historical Notes
Task Force A, Combat Command B, U.S. 2nd Armored Division
This task force was composed of the 3rd Battalion/67th Armored Regiment plus one armored infantry battalion and one platoon each of engineers and tank destroyers. Its orders directed it to seize and hold Celles. Celles
sits in a valley with long ridges on each side. Combat Command B sent one task force down each ridgeline. After reaching a position south of the town, they would come together, trapping the Germans in a pocket.

Task Force A began the assault at 0930 and moved south without meeting much resistance. While trying to skirt the Bois de Geauvelant, the lead company drew fire from three Panthers in Ferme de Mahenne (Hex 0914 on Board 22). This fire stopped any further movement south as the task force pulled back and called for air support. A dozen P38s strafed and bombed the German positions, destroying the tanks.

The attack continued, with the task force capturing the village of Sorinne and the high ground south-east of Celles. The 82nd Reconnaissance Battalion had been ordered to protect the right flank of Combat Command B and if possible, to contact the British on the Meuse River. After knocking out an anti-tank gun, Company B joined Company A in the battle for Foy-Notre-Dame. In the firefight, they captured almost 150 men from the German recon battalion, including the commander, and destroyed or captured 19 vehicles and one self-propelled gun. While the 82nd Recon Battalion contacted the British 29th Armoured Brigade, their first meeting was not friendly. When a British tank advanced to meet the Americans, it was destroyed by American fire.

Notes
The British are on the attack, with air support pf their own and a great deal of American help on the ground and in the air. As one expects for a scenario with a great deal of force on one side, they also have to achieve a great deal with it in order to win.

And those are the opening scenarios. Next time, it’s Chapter One, featuring the Pegasus Division.

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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 staggering number of books, games and articles on historical subjects. He lives in Birmingham, Alabama with his wife, three children and his dog, Leopold.