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

That’s the story of Elsenborn Ridge: Britain’s Battle of the Bulge. Let’s have a look at a few

We packed a lot of history and game play into our newest Panzer Grenadier Campaign Study. Philippe Léonard knows a great deal about the Battle of the Bulge, and in Elsenborn Ridge: Britain’s Battle of the Bulge he gives us a new angle on this oft-told story. The British XXX Corps’ participation doesn’t get a whole lot of ink, and as we see, it really should. Let’s have a look at some more of the scenarios.

Chapter Three
Roads to La Roche

Scenario Eight
April Fools
Rendeux, south-east of Hotton, Belgium
5 January 1945
The 116th Panzer Division still held a long defensive line, from the east of Marche to the River Ourthe. However, the division was in very bad shape after the disasters suffered in December. Its reconnaissance battalion, down to two or three hundred men, held positions from the Hamoul Mill near Rendeux to the large woods of Sur Waha, south-east of Hotton. The 60th Panzer Grenadier Regiment’s strength had also fallen to two hundred men and together with the engineer battalion, which had only two companies left, they occupied the rear zone of the road from Marche to La Roche. To the left of XXX Corps, the Americans had already started their assault, but apparently were having trouble with flanking fire and needed the British to clear the area.

On 4 January, under heavy clouds full of snow, the 158th Brigade of 53rd Welsh Division advanced into the forested mass of hills south of the road between Hotton and La Roche, in the valley of the Ourthe River. Tank support came from Shermans of the 33rd Armoured Brigade’s 144th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps. North of the village of Rendeux-Bas, the slow advance of the 2nd Battalion/Monmouthshire Regiment stopped when, rounding a sharp bend in the road, they encountered stiff enemy opposition behind a well-sited roadblock with a steep cliff on one side and more open ground on the other, with a water mill (the Hamoul Mill). Machine-gun nests and two dug-in tanks protected the position, and it proved almost impossible to direct effective artillery and mortar fire on the roadblock. The defenders frustrated various flanking moves, leaving the situation deadlocked.

Despite determined efforts, 2nd Mons made no progress for the rest of the day. The German resistance had serious consequences for the rest of the battle, as the 160th Brigade was blocked behind the 158th and could not continue the advance. Hard fighting followed throughout the afternoon and evening. The Germans suffered serious casualties and the British fought off an attack against a troop of tanks (but not before a panzerfaust claimed a Sherman), yet the final objective was not secured. A new attack went forward at 0600 on the next day, under cover of darkness.

Conclusion
XXX Corps headquarters ordered maximum Sheldrake (artillery) before daylight. The fire plan, codenamed “April,” called for support from all available field regiments. It would last for about 20 minutes, during which some 5,820 shells would be fired. At 0530, prior to the attack, “April” began. By this time the infantry companies had already moved up. Unfortunately, a proportion of the shells fell short. Tragically, without doing the enemy a great deal of harm, some of the medium shells fell among B Company on the crest, with some casualties. C and D Companies then attacked along the road but by 0730 the assault had been blocked by the minefields and the German resistance centered around the Mill and the St Gilles Chapel.

As the day wore on, no tanks could get over the ice and no guns could reach the German lines behind the high hills. With German resistance stiffening, a wide outflanking attack seemed the only effective course of action. At 0830, the Germans repulsed an attempt by the 2nd Monmouths - the “Mons” - to bypass the Hamoul roadblock by attacking across the small Boiceau Brook. The enemy controlled the area from the opposite hill mass, later aptly baptized “Mount Snowdon” by the Welshmen.

At 1100, the attack’s failure was obvious and the Hamoul Mill was even reinforced by the Germans at noon. The battalion had not achieved its objective, and eventually the Mons were relieved and pulled back into Hotton.

Notes
This is a small scenario, and pretty simple at first glance: the British must clear the road south. But the Germans have a tough position that’s not going to be easily outflanked. Both sides wield small tank-infantry task forces backed by artillery; this is going to be a true players’ scenario.

Scenario Nine
Dark Woods
Waharday, south of Hotton, Belgium
5 January 1945
In the center of the 158th Brigade’s attack sector, the 7th Royal Welsh Fusiliers ran into the enemy defense’s main line: a string of villages along the high ground south of the forest, defended by infantry backed by a handful of self-propelled guns or tanks. The 116th Panzer Division had cleverly installed a line of strong outposts on the high ground that dominated the southern edge of the forest. The absence of paved roads inside the forest and overall rough terrain further impeded the British advance. Through the thick forest south of Sur Waha, concealed German machine-gun outposts frequently blocked the slow advance. By midday, Sergeant Reginald Anstee’s patrol had reached the objective, a crossroads of trails in the forest called “Aux Tiers de Tailles” (on high ground, west of Chéoux). The leading company was then subjected to heavy shelling. At 1600, Lt. Col. R.K. Exham was planning a further attack for the next day when a German counterattack with considerable artillery support developed on the left flank of the battalion and regained some vital ground on the brigade front. The situation became anxious.

Conclusion
The sharp enemy counter-attack took the Fusiliers by surprise. The left forward company (D Company) was overrun; the next in line, C Company, ran short of ammunition and the battalion fell back in some confusion. The battalion’s remnants rallied around the reserve company’s positions, but suffered considerable casualties before they could stabilizer their front with the aid of large-scale artillery support. The Fusiliers held off further enemy attempts but spent an anxious and very uncomfortable night in the forest with enemy patrols roaming around. The 7th Royal Welsh Fusiliers had been effectively eliminated from action; that evening the battalion reported three officers and 73 men remaining in A Company, one officer and 60 men in B Company, one officer and 31 men in C Company and two officers and 14 men in D Company, a total of 186 men. A fresh battalion immediately came forward to take their place.

Notes
The Germans have been kicked around up to this point, but they still have a lot of fight in them and now they’re attacking. They don’t have much of an edge over the Brits, but the British aren’t fully ready for the Reich to strike back.

And those are the first scenarios of Chapter Three. Next time, we’ll talk about the rest fo them.

You can order Britain's Battle of the Bulge right here.

Sign up for our newsletter right here. Your info will never be sold or transferred; we'll just use it to update you on new games and new offers.

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.