Edelweiss: Blossom of Snow
By Mike Bennighof, PhD
November 2014

Panzer Grenadier scenario design is a little different from working on other games. Both the maps and the pieces used are usually generic, so rather than creating a map of the battlefield it's a matter of choosing from the boards we've published. Sometimes the maps we have are close enough that they can just be used to represent the battlefield; in other cases we add special rules to change the terrain on the maps (ignoring certain woods or field hexes for example).

Adding mountain troops to the Panzer Grenadier system seemingly would have required some mountain maps on which they can fight. This proved no problem when designing Edelweiss, because Germany's mountain troops actually waged very few battles in the mountains. They fought on the plains, in the forest and swamps and tundra, but not in the mountains very often. Have a look for yourself.

The Mius Line
2 December 1941
After failing to hold the city of Rostov, the Germans fell back to the Mius River in southern Ukraine. There the 49th Mountain Corps dug in for the winter, and despite the critically low temperatures the troops receives such comforts as a movie theater and a field brothel. But the Red Army had no plans to let them enjoy their creature comforts.

Note: This scenario uses boards and pieces from Eastern Front and Road to Berlin, and boards from Battle of the Bulge. The Soviet player should only use leaders from Eastern Front.

Conclusion
The Germans flung back the Soviet attack, which came poorly-prepared as the green troops bunched into waves and had little artillery support. Later, none of the division’s senior officers would admit to giving the order for a counterattack. Regardless of the desires of headquarters to hold the more defensible river line, the jägers left their dugouts. They captured the town of Dmitrievka and pushed the Soviets back several kilometers from their starting positions.

Design Note: This is a large scenario - and what gamer can resist "berserk attack" rules?

Spring Offensive
26 April 1942
In the Loukhi sector in central Finland, the Soviets opened their spring offensive with a flanking attack against the German XXXVI Mountain Corps. The 139th Mountain Brigade, made up of troops left behind when 3rd Mountain Division departed the Arctic, gave way before the neighboring 6th SS Mountain Division could collapse and leave the unit surrounded. The Germans threw in all possible reinforcements, and began a counterattack to restore their lines.

Note: This scenario uses boards from Eastern Front and pieces from Red Warriors and Sinister Forces.

Conclusion
After very heavy fighting the mountain troops stabilized their line and held the Soviet advance. But with no fresh reserves available, the Germans would be in deep trouble if the Soviets attacked again. That is, of course, exactly what the Red Army planned to do.

Design Note: I changed my mind several times about how to represent snow cover. The Soviets tried to time their attack just before the thaw, making snow effects subject to a fairly wide interpretation. We went with less snow, which I think is in keeping with the conditions at the time.

Sinking Skiers
6 May 1942
During the Soviet spring offensive, the 8th Ski Brigade drove deep into the rear of the Axis position in front of Kesten’ga. But the movement became a death trap when the German-Finnish front held, the snow melted, the ground turned swampy and no advancing troops came to link up with the skiers. German and Finnish units began to methodically hunt them down, driving the ski brigade and a regiment of the 186th Division (a unit made up mostly of convicts) into an ever-tighter encirclement.

Note: This scenario uses pieces from Eastern Front and Arctic Front, and boards from Eastern Front, Road to Berlin and Battle of the Bulge.

Conclusion
The Germans and Finns tightened the noose on the trapped units and wiped them out. Less than 400 men escaped to the Soviet lines. After a promising beginning, the Soviet spring offensive had ended in dismal failure. They would not try again for two more years.

Design Note: This scenario covers a large area (six maps), and features Brandenburg commandos in a wide-ranging encirclement battle.

On the Shoulder
17 May 1942
Marshal Semyon Timoshenko's attempt to re-capture Kharkov began to go wrong after only a few days. The German and Romanian forces held their positions on the "shoulders" of the penetration, and then began their own counter-offensive behind the Soviet armored spearheads. First Mountain Division, at the "hinge" of the southern attack, went forward with large-scale support from heavy artillery and dive bombers to make up for its lack of tanks.

Note: This scenario uses boards and pieces from Eastern Front.

Conclusion
The attack went off exactly as planned, and the Soviets fell back in some disarray. The jägers began their pivot to the west and took up positions to cover the flank and rear of the advancing 14th Panzer Division on their right. While the Soviet 9th Army command realized its danger, a German air raid struck its communications center just as the radiomen began to send out re-deployment orders and the Red Army's response was local and disjointed. Reinforcements that had been requested and approved never received marching orders.

Design Note: This scenario places mountain troops on the attack, across a river, with massive support. And they'll need it - the defenders outnumber them.

Pale Riders
18 May 1942
A day after the German counter-attack, the Soviets finally got their own responses under way. Marshal Semyon Timoshenko issued stern orders to Gen. K.P. Podlas of 57th Army to launch his own reserves against the German flank. Podlas had already been killed in action, rallying his troops with pistol in hand, and it was some hours later that the remnants of his Army staff got the attackers moving.

Note: This scenario uses boards and pieces from Eastern Front, and pieces from Road to Berlin.

Conclusion
The Soviets launched a series of concentrated attacks, but gave little artillery support while the Germans enjoyed good artillery backing plus occasional Stuka strikes. One Guards Rifle division and two regular army cavalry divisions launched separate attacks on different parts of the division's line, and all met the same fate. The attackers reeled back in disorganization and the panzers continued to drive forward without fear for their lines of communication.

Design Note: We wanted to include plenty of scenarios featuring mobile forces, and an attack by a cavalry division on a little more than a mountain battalion seemed to fit the bill.

Goitkh Pass
1 November 1942
As part of the German offensive into the Caucasus, the 4th Mountain Division received the key assignment of taking and holding the port of Tuapse along the Black Sea coast. The Soviet 18th Army stood in the mountain passes above the port, refusing to yield and counter-attacking vigorously. With only part of its force – one regiment had been attached to the 1st Mountain Division – the “Enzian Division” had a difficult task ahead.

Note: This scenario uses boards from Battle of the Bulge and Road to Berlin, and pieces from Red Warriors.

Conclusion
The 9th Guards Rifle reported 8,000 German dead, more than were engaged in the battle. But inflated claims aside, the battles in front of Tuapse represented a German high-water mark. The drive to the east would advance no farther on this front.

Design Note: This is a scenario I originally designed for the very first edition of Panzer Grenadier: Eastern Front, even though I knew from the start we wouldn't be including mountain troops in the package. Sometimes I have no idea why I do some things.

Mount Doom
17 April 1943
In February 1943 the Soviet 18th Army tried to seize the Black Sea port of Novorossisk with a bold amphibious landing. The Romanian and German troops holding the area contained the attack, but could not drive the Red Army back into the sea. The 4th Mountain Division headed south to try its luck at wiping out the beachhead. On the wooded height known as Myshako, the unit met fighting as bloody as any First World War trench battle.

Note: This scenario uses boards from Road to Berlin and Battle of the Bulge, and pieces from Eastern Front.

Conclusion
The mountaineers launched repeated attacks but could not dig the Soviets out of their hilltop positions. The well-led and resolute defenders retook every inch of lost ground. “Should I be killed in the fight for the workers' cause,” read a note found on the body of a 15-year old Soviet volunteer, “I would be grateful if the commanders Vershinin and Kunitsin would take the first opportunity to see my mother in Yeisk and tell her that her son died for her country’s freedom and give her my award, Komsomol card and this notebook.”

Design Note: This is another from the "Cross of Iron" subset, scenarios taking place in the same fighting represented in Willi Heinrich's well-known novel. Just like Heinrich's semi-fictional mountaineers, the Germans face overwhelming numbers and tough objectives.

Novorossisk Breakout
10 September 1943
For 225 days, the 4th Mountain Division fought to hold the Soviets around the Black Sea port of Novorossisk. Finally, the Soviet 18th Army launched a bold offensive to break the deadlock. While one pincer attacked from the north a landing force headed straight for the heart of Novorossisk’s harbor, and a Soviet advance from the south (out of a small beachhead held since February) threatened the Germans with encirclement. This had to be stopped if the jägers were to survive.

Note: This scenario uses boards from Eastern Front and pieces from Red Warriors.

Conclusion
The Guards’ attack almost broke through the hastily-arranged German defense, but the Germans managed to stem the tide just in time. The 4th Mountain Division finally withdrew from Novorossisk, an action made famous in Willi Heinrich’s novel Cross of Iron.

Design Note: It's another tough fight for Willi's boys, with Soviet firepower matched against German morale. It wasn't that way on the Eastern Front nearly as often as the German generals claimed in the apologia mocked by Heinrich.

The Trash Division
12 September 1943
In 1941, the Waffen SS decided to form a mountain division from ethnic German volunteers in the Balkans, for occupation duty in Yugoslavia. Unable to find enough recruits, they resorted to conscription. For two years, 7th SS Volunteer Division repressed civilians, and its official marching song celebrated its main occupations: rape and murder. “Our trash division! And many Serbian skulls, and many Serbian maids, will I soon see fallen.” But in September 1943, Italy changed sides, and the division was rushed to Split in Dalmatia to face someone other than unarmed villagers.

Note: This scenario uses boards from Battle of the Bulge and pieces from Eastern Front and Afrika Korps.

Conclusion
The Italians fought with a frenzy bred from years of hatred for their arrogant allies. But the Germans slowly ground down their resistance, and captured Split after 16 days of heavy fighting. The Bergamo Division surrendered, and the Germans promptly murdered its commander and 48 other officers before beginning an orgy of massacre and destruction against Split’s civilian residents.

Design Note: Nazis. I hate those guys..

See the first part of this preview here, and the third part here.

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