Dragon’s Teeth:
Scenario Preview, Part Two
By Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
March 2024

Panzer Grenadier, the game series, remains a favorite of mine for one central reason: its ability to tell stories. The scenarios unfold, one after the other, moving the narrative along and letting players play out the key actions in the story, or to just keep reading.

I love this story-arc format; it’s an opportunity to make these games more than just playthings. I don’t know that there are many in the very small audience for board wargames who care about such things, but I make games because I want to tell stories. That’s the essence of every game above the level of tic-tac-toe, whatever the genre: it tells a story, in a manner that lets you, the player, also serve as storyteller. And it gives the game scenarios a structure, so they’re not just instructions on how to play the game, but part of the story.

That approach likely limits the reach of our games, but the people who like it seem to like it very much. And if you’re one of those, let’s run through Chapter Two of Panzer Grenadier: Dragon’s Teeth.

Chapter Two
The Consolidation Phase
With the arrival of the Wild Buffalo Division, the German situation had markedly improved. They now had a formation capable of attacking (though this would not be rue for very long), and that forced the Americans to make allowances for the changed situation.

American troops cross the Siegfried Line.

On 17 September, Maj. Gen. J. Lawton “Lightning Joe” Collins of VII Corps ordered his divisions to consolidate their positions. That meant clearing out the portions of the West Wall still held by German troops that had been surrounded or bypassed in the initial American advance. The Americans had decided on a twin-pronged attack to isolate Aachen, but the troops forming the northern “prong,” chiefly the 30th Infantry Division and 2nd Armored Division of XIX Corps, had not yet arrived due to the general shortage of gasoline.

That meant two weeks of grinding, close-quarters combat, mostly borne by 9th Infantry Division, 1st Infantry Division and 3rd Armored Division as all three formations also tried to absorb replacements and the Germans tried to kick them out of their hard-won lodgments in and across the West Wall.

And all of that had to occur before the Battle of Aachen could even begin.

Scenario Nine
Counterattack at Hoefen
17 September 1944
The Germans had constructed multiple belts of fortifications, but even so were loath to give up any of their positions without a fight. With the Scharnhorst Line compromised by the 60th Infantry’s advance, Gen. Erich Brandenberger of Seventh Army fired Col. Eberhard Roseler of 89th Infantry Division and ordered his successor, Maj. Gen. Walter Bruns, to mount an immediate counterattack to restore the positions using some dubious reinforcements.

Conclusion
“Strengthened” by a battalion of well-armed but poorly-trained Air Force fortress troops, the German attack went forward with surprising enthusiasm and soon drove into the town of Hoefen. Confused by the strong reaction by the “beaten” Germans, the American regiment milled about for several hours before mounting a counterattack that drove the Germans back out. Signs like this should have warned the American command that the German Army still retained a significant combat capability.

Notes
This is another once-huge scenario cut down to merely large size, and we have the Germans on the attack but the Americans forced to attack as well. That makes for a swirling brawl, with American artillery helping its side against German numbers.

Scenario Ten
The Last Bullet
17 September 1944
As Third Armored Division chewed through the Schill Line’s fixed defenses, the German command despaired of stopping them. “Seventh Army will defend the West Wall to the last bullet,” army commander Gen. Erich Brandenburger decreed. “The penetrations achieved by the enemy will be wiped out.” A fresh division finally detrained to support the defenders, and LXXXI Corps flung it at the Spearhead Division head on.

Conclusion
After a heavy preparatory bombardment, the Germans came forward in a classic bayonet assault. Hopes of overwhelming the Americans through numbers and determination fell apart under murderous artillery fire. The 12th Infantry Division was a battle-hardened unit, brought up to full strength with well-trained replacements and possessing its full allotment of artillery and support weapons. None of that mattered, as the American defenses held with only minimal casualties and inflicted gruesome losses on the attackers. The American assault had been delayed, but at a frightful cost.

Notes
It’s a German set-piece assault, with waves of infantry on the attack backed by plentiful artillery (by German standards, anyway). But the Americans are a crack division with plenty of their own artillery (even if they don’t have quite as many shells as they need).

Scenario Eleven
Morning Mists
18 September 1944
The fresh German 12th Infantry Division attacked with considerable spirit, but the American divisions of VII Corps had been hardened themselves by the campaign across France. Unable to make much of an impact with bayonet charges, the new German division regrouped to make another attempt on the village of Schevenhuette, this time with a night assault.

Conclusion
The Germans infiltrated more than a company’s worth of troops into the village before the Americans became aware of the attack, and then things began to fall apart. Unsuspected tanks opened fire at point-blank range, joined by heavy machine-gun fire. Despite having achieved surprise, the Germans reeled back with heavy losses.

Notes
This is a small scenario, mostly infantry with a single American tank platoon. I’ve always thought that Panzer Grenadier shines best in this type of scenario; this is how I originally designed the game system as a teenager many years ago. The Germans have darkness and numbers on their side, plus the Americans are surprised.

Scenario Twelve
In the Mood
19 September 1944
The U.S. Army’s most successful tank commander, Sgt. Lafayette G. Pool, destroyed 258 enemy vehicles in just three months of combat. He usually insisted that his M4 Sherman, “In the Mood,” lead his 3rd Armored Division task force but with the tank and crew scheduled to depart for a War Bonds tour of the States Lt. Col. Walter Richardson placed “In the Mood” on his task force’s flank instead. The task force moved out in its new configuration to take Münsterbusch from its determined German defenders.

Conclusion
This time, it was the Germans’ turn to ambush Pool. He spotted a hidden anti-tank gun, but his loader jammed the main gun’s breach in his haste to load. The Germans fired first, hitting “In the Mood” in the turret and blowing Pool clear but shattering his leg. Pool injected himself with morphine and began hacking at his shattered left leg with his pocket knife. The tank fell over into a ditch while Pool screamed obscenities at the German gun crew. Medics gave him two more shots of morphine, and his last action of World War II before passing out would be to demand that “someone fix my . . . tank.”

Notes
I’ve never been much of a fan of hidden units, but the rule’s there in the Panzer Grenadier Optionals and this scenario (which I designed) requires it, and it works pretty well here. The Germans are out to ambush Lafayette Pool, and that may not be the best decision they ever made.

Scenario Thirteen
On the Donnerberg
21 September 1944
Seeking to widen the breach in the German lines east of Aachen, 3rd Armored Division sent a depleted task force from its Combat Command B against Hill 287, known to the Germans as the Donnerberg. The height overlooked Stolberg, an important town now held by the Americans, and division command feared the Germans would use it to spot for artillery fire. With their remaining tanks and armored infantry, Task Force Mills charged up the hill.

Conclusion
In a quick assault, Task Force Mills took the hilltop and cleared off the German defenders. The Germans had placed their anti-tank guns behind the hill’s crest to shield them from the direct fire of the American tank destroyers and self-propelled artillery supporting the attack When the American tanks crested the hill, the Germans knocked out half of them. The Americans had their objective, but had paid too much for it in the judgment of their division commander, Maj. Gen. Maurice Rose.

Notes
It’s just a small American force, but they’re mechanized and they have tanks, trying to take a strong hilltop position from a small and combat-weary garrison. The Americans’ artillery support is right there on the map, which makes the battle a little unusual.

Scenario Fourteen
Off the Donnerberg
22 September 1944
Rose sent a second task force to join the first on the Donnerberg, but feared that even so they could not hold against a determined counterattack. The Germans gathered reinforcements and sent them up the hill, with the Americans pouring smoke rounds down on them to confuse the situation.

Conclusion
Exhausted and depleted, the Americans reeled back from the German attack. Rose authorized a withdrawal and under heavy smoke cover they abandoned their hard-won hilltop positions. The German Army had been badly hurt in the previous months, but even its infantry divisions retained the capability to attack when properly supplied and supported – something the Americans would rediscover in a few months’ time.

Notes
Now it’s the Americans trying to hold that same hilltop against a German infantry assault; they have tanks but are depleted and short of ammunition. Can quality defeat quantity?

And that’s all for Chapter Two. Next time, we study Chapter Three.

You can order Dragon’s Teeth right here.

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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 an unknowable number of books, games and articles on historical subjects. He lives in Birmingham, Alabama with his wife and three children; he misses his dog, Leopold.

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