North Wind: Designer's Notes
By Mike Bennighof, Ph.D.
October 2013

North Wind, our scenario booklet for the Panzer Grenadier system, began with our then-marketeer's request for a Western Front boxed game featuring American forces. From doing some background reading when we put out our Alsace game, I knew that fighting during Operation Nordwind had been intense and included the tank battles that Panzer Grenadier players love.

I sketched out a number of scenarios, but soon ran into difficulties — while there are a number of secondary histories of this campaign, on the whole they are astonishingly bad. Keith Bonn's When the Odds Were Even makes some outright bizarre and patently false claims about SS prowess while Charles Whiting's The Other Battle of the Bulge is simply an incoherent mess. The U.S. Army's history is much better done but lacks detail; individual unit histories have their own problems. While I've done a great deal of original research for most games I've designed, I'm not used to having to consult primary documents for battles involving American troops. We ultimately decided we'd be better off publishing the so-called "northern half of the Battle of the Bulge,"Elsenborn Ridge.

Some time later, our chief game developer suggested a line of scenario-only booklets for Panzer Grenadier, pointing out that something priced at under $10 might attract impulse buyers. Lys picked North Wind off a list of several potential topics, but it's the one I suggested most strongly since I was in the midst of writing Elsenborn scenarios and fleshing out those from Nordwind would be easier at the same time.

The scenarios use Battle of the Bulge for mapboards and American or German Army playing pieces, and Road to Berlin for mapboards and Waffen SS playing pieces. A few scattered boards or pieces come from other games, in particular M4/76 tanks fromElsenborn Ridge. Pulling pieces from multiple sources allows for larger scenarios, which some players really like, but we made sure to include some smaller ones as well. Here's a look at them.

Scenario One
New Year's Kiss
1 January 1945

The last German offensive on the Western Front began at the stroke of midnight, with infantry moving forward quietly in hopes of catching the celebrating Americans unawares. The Germans advanced without artillery preparation as three German divisions struck a single, green American division new to the front lines.

	Tanks of 12th Armored Division burn outside Herrlisheim.

Conclusion

Goethe used "Götz von Berlichingen," the name of a famed one-handed medieval knight, as a euphemism for "kiss my ass." The aptly-named division consisted mostly of conscripted Romanian volksdeutsche, many of doubtful eagerness to serve the Greater German Reich. The 44th, made up of New York and New Jersey National Guardsmen, had been in combat since October and had not seen fighting this intense. They recoiled from the attack, and the Germans took their first-day objectives, though in some sectors the 44th's artillery exacted a murderous cost.

Design Note

This is an infantry assault, with both sides having fairly low morale. The Germans have to make their way through fairly heavy woods to reach their objectives, but the Americans are complacent on the morning of New Year's Day and not set up well to defend.

Scenario Two
Who ever saw . . .
1 January 1945

As happened on the Eastern Front as well, the Germans' strategic insanity — launching multiple offensives on different fronts with limited resources — caught the Americans totally off guard. While this thinking would doom the Third Reich to rapid defeat, in the short term it produced substantial local victories. The American cavalrymen bridging the gap between 100th and 45th Infantry Divisions had been careless, and when two full German divisions advanced against a regiment-sized battle group, disaster struck.

Conclusion

Though the 256th was a hurriedly-raised division, it had a number of Eastern Front veterans from destroyed units and had some experience fighting the British during the fall of 1944. Task Force Hudleson — two cavalry squadrons and an armored infantry battalion — had deployed badly dispersed, and the Germans easily infiltrated between their positions. After some hard fighting, the cavalry began to disintegrate and a counterattack by engineers failed miserably. The German offensive was off to a good start.

Design Note

The Germans aren't very good, but there are a lot of them. The Americans are better, and they have armored cars and halftracks, but they are spread all over the map with huge areas to defend. A classic cavalry delaying action.

Scenario Three
Troop Rotation
1 January 1945

There could be no excuse for Task Force Hudleson's poor preparation, but there was a reason. The scratch unit was due to be relieved later that afternoon by an entire infantry division moving up into the battle group's sector. The American command sought to "season" green divisions on quiet sectors of the front, and Alsace seemed the perfect place for the infantry regiments of the new 70th Infantry Division to obtain a little combat experience while they waited for their artillery and support units to arrive in Europe.

Conclusion

The 70th Infantry would not actually take the field as a complete division for another month, and most of its troops would not see action for several days yet. Sent forward piecemeal, the raw American troops knew they were marching straight into a firefight on their first day of combat but had little other information to guide them. They suffered terrible casualties, and all three regiments had to be brought under the command of the experienced and well-led 45th Infantry Division.

Design Note

This is a small scenario, a one-board meeting engagement between infantry forces.

Scenario Four
Maps and Legends
7 January 1945

With Nordwind apparently stalled, the German command decided to commit its mobile reserve, the fresh and relatively full-strength 21st Panzer and 25 Panzer Grenadier Divisions. The start was delayed by the arrest of Lt. Gen. Edgar Feuchtinger of 21st Panzer for deserting his post during the Normandy invasion — when seized on the 5th, Feuchtinger was at home in Germany rather than at his command post. But he wasn't needed there to plan the attack, he argued, because the only maps available were those drawn for Helmuth von Moltke's operations in the area in 1870 and thus an impossible undertaking.

	A "Tiger tank" (actually a PzKw IV) knocked out by 12th Armored tankers outside Herrlisheim.

Conclusion

Feuchtinger was a favorite of Hitler's, having helped plan the Nürnberg rallies during the 1930's, but even the most insane regimes have limits to the protection extended to incompetent party activists. His death sentence was suspended and he was instead reduced in rank to enlisted artilleryman and sent to the Eastern Front — where he promptly deserted. His replacement at 21st Panzer, Hans Luck, had limited success with this attack — the Americans made good use of French fortifications built as part of their Maginot Line — and 21st Panzer pulled back to try again.

Design Note

For sixty years now, defeated German generals who left memoirs have had their lies accepted by some historians and many game designers. Luck's panzer division should have been a very good unit, given its assignments of equipment and personnel, but the American 79th Infantry Division stopped them cold. While Feuchtinger certainly did "a heck of a job" in the best crony fashion, Luck's command performance here and in front of Berlin wasn't much better. The American player won't have the benefit of facing him, and though he has fortifications to help out the Germans are hard to stop.

Scenario Five
Purple Heart Lane
8 January 1945

Though the Americans expected renewed German attacks from the north, an assault across the Rhine caught them totally by surprise. The Americans gathered two inexperienced battalions that had been undergoing training well behind the lines at the start of the German offensive and flung them at the bridgehead.

Conclusion

A post-war study by the Armor School at Fort Knox found that none of the American units present filed after-action reports for the battles around Herrlisheim, nor did the Germans leave detailed accounts, making the action more difficult to chart than is usually the case. What is clear is that poor American preparations led to heavy casualties along "Purple Heart Lane" for little gain. Expecting to find only the German Volksgrenadiers who had made the initial river crossing, instead 12th Armored Division's account claims they encountered tough SS panzer grenadiers. The Americans fought their way into Herrlisheim, where house-to-house fighting would rage for another week.

Design Note

I'm not sure I completely accept 12th Armored's account, but it made for a better scenario. The Americans are weak in morale and leadership but strong in armor, and have to fight their way through German volksgrenadiers and then battle the SS to rescue Americans trapped in a town. It's a large scenario but has lots of tank action.

Scenario Six
Night of the Liberators
8 – 9 January 1945

When the German shifted the weight of their offensive to the east, the twin villages of Hatten and Rittershofen became the focal point of the XXIX Panzer Corps' attack. After hard fighting around Hatten on the 8th, corps commander Karl Decker ordered a night tank attack to catch the "Liberators" of the 14th Armored Division unawares.

Conclusion

The Germans hoped to take the Americans by surprise, but the advance had been spotted and the 48th Tank Battalion shot up the advancing vehicles. The bloody fight for the twin villages would go on for almost another 10 days.

Design Note

A pure armored action, in the darkness, with lots of woods and cover. I liked the odd nature of the fight, and wanted some quicker-playing scenarios in the mix.

Scenario Seven
Hellcats Return
9 January 1945

Combat Command B of 12th Armored Division penetrated the outskirts of Herrlisheim on the 8th, but could not hold its gains. The next morning they went back in, planning to use their tanks for fire support while the infantry dug the Germans out of the town. They did not report contact with SS troops this time, but did find fierce resistance all the same.

	This 88mm gun did grievous damage to 12th Armored's attack on Herrlisheim.

Conclusion

Again the Americans penetrated Herrlisheim, and became caught up in confused house-to-house fighting. The plan to use the tanks for stand-off direct fire support collapsed when the infantry could not make radio contact — the division's claim that all infantry radios simultaneously broke down seems unlikely, and this was probably the result of poor communications planning. The tanks milled about outside the town while one or more 88mm guns nearby destroyed several. When darkness fell, the Americans decided to pull out of the town.

Design Note

This uses the same map as Purple Heart Lane, with the Americans now starting much closer to the town but having to fight their way in.

Scenario Eight
Quiet Persuasion
9 January 1945

Hans Luck, 21st Panzer Division's commander, wrote a popular memoir that often buys him more credit with game designers and historians than is probably warranted. Gen. Johannes Blaskowitz of Army Group G was no more pleased with Luck's performance, and excuses, than he had been with Feuchtinger — who, after all, was staring at a prison wall in Torgau by the time his division entered combat. Blaskowitz made personal appearances at both XXXIX Panzer Corps and 21st Panzer Division headquarters to remind Luck and his superior, Karl Decker, that Feuchtinger's cell had two empty cots.

Conclusion

The 42nd "Rainbow" Division had been sent into the line without its artillery or supporting units, but its raw, inexperienced infantry fought under command of the 14th Armored with massive artillery support from 14th Armored, 79th Infantry and VI Corps artillery battalions. The troops also had the benefit of fortifications originally built as part of the French Maginot Line. But thanks to Blaskowitz's intervention, the Germans attacked with renewed purpose and finally broke through, forcing 14th Armored to commit its tanks to seal off the breach. Heavy fighting would continue for close to two weeks.

Design Note

This one has it all — defense of a fortified line, following by an armored counter-attack once the line is breached. The Germans will break through, but they have to cross a lot of open ground and know the American tanks are coming to stop them. I think I like this one the best of the set.

Scenario Nine
Reinforce the Right
13-14 January 1945

The Americans contained the German armored assault after several days of fierce fighting, and the German command began to feed in reinforcements as they arrived. Thanks to the simultaneous effort in the Ardennes, the German transportation network could not move up fresh divisions in their entirety, and rather than wait an unknown number of days, several of them entered combat piece by piece.

Conclusion

The new reinforcements helped renew the attack's force, but once again the Americans held their ground. The divisions would be sorted out the next day, and continue to struggle for Hatten for another week. More and more troops would be fed into the meatgrinder, and even German jet fighters would appear before the Americans pulled back behind the Moder River to the south.

Design Notes

It's a complicated assault for the Germans, with paratroopers mixed in with the tanks and panzer grenadiers of 21st Panzer Division and many restrictions on their cooperation. The Americans are inexperienced but on the defense.

Scenario Ten
Hellcats Boxed
17 January 1945

Part of the German "Panzer Reserve," the veteran 10th SS Panzer Division had been unable to join the Ardennes offensive — the German transportation network simply could not bring every available division to the front. Assigned to the second echelon of North Wind, it crossed the Rhine under heavy air attack and was immediately flung into a counter-attack against the American bridgehead near Herrlisheim.

Conclusion

Unlike almost all Waffen SS units, the 10th SS Panzer Division actually deserves the "elite" label. Originally formed with experienced officers and the pick of the SS recruit pool, the division fought well in Normandy and at Arnhem. Well rested and at full strength, they overwhelmed two battalions of the raw 12th Armored Division's "Hellcats" — 43rd Tank Battalion even surrendered 15 intact Sherman tanks. The incident marked one of the worst performances by American troops in Europe.

Design Note

Tales of SS accomplishments should always be considered suspect when not supported by other sources, but in this case, the American side admits to losing half a battalion of undamaged Shermans. Twelfth Armored was not up to the tasks it was given — the Americans are subject to the same surrender rules that plague Italian troops in Afrika Korps — but despite their losses American troops held their ground and stopped the German offensive without detracting from the efforts on the main front.

It's a fine little set of scenarios, but this type of product just doesn't fit our needs any more.

Click here to order North Wind as a download.

Click here to order North Wind in its printed edition.