Rocherath - Krinkelt : The twin villages Ardennes 1944

For our next battle we headed back to the Ardennes. As the Germans pushed west in the first few days of the offensive the Germans were held at the twin villages of Rocherath and Krinkelt. This allowed many American troops to escape the German advance and to pull back to the Elsenborn Ridge to the North west. The delay caused by the holding action like many others ensured the offensive failed in its objectives. A number of American units form the 99th Divisin were involved in the defence holding back the 12th SS Panzer and the 277th Volksgrenadiers.  A very complex battle taking place over several days so the best we can do is a scenario ‘inspired by’ the historical events. 

The Americans have dug in across the two villages, they have managed to mine a number of areas. The Germans objective is to break through to the ridge beyond the villages the outnumbered Americans must attempt to hold them back. At least this time I remembered to put out my smaller winter trees 👍

The Germans have a phased arrival , starting with the 277th with their heavy support weapons.

The 12th SS panzer sends its tanks along the road directly towards the village of Rocherath and target American anti tanks guns knocking them out

After a couple of turns more Germans arrived further west and head towards the villages

The Americans holding buildings on the edge of the villages

Some of the leading panzers are pinned back and the leading German infantry are hit hard as they push forward to the edge of the village

But the Germans target buidlings on the edge of the village with both artillery and mortars and eventually the defenders are knocked out, the panzers then break into the village itself

Lots of tank on tank firing in the village often at close range. 

Two Sherman’s holding the southern edge of the village can be seen burning, the American infantry are regrouping being the village

German Grenadiers are now pushing into the village but they too take heavily casualties

They then turn north and try to outflank the American position

The German artillery is very effective at knocking out some of the defenders behind the village

American tank destroyers have been deployed to the west of Krinkelt but they are facing the might of the 12th SS panzer

The Germans (foreground) are outflanking the village and the defenders beyond the hedge can be seen heavily pinned down, another burning Sherman lies in the road put the ridge

We reached the end of the battle at this point, a German win as they have effectively broken through the villages and are pushing up the flank of the Elsenborn ridge.

The Americans have not been wiped out but are now only holding Krinkelt and have very little armour, they will have to rely on artillery dug in on the ridge ?

As always a fun battle, hard fought the German artillery was very effective early on knocking out the defenders and neutralising their antitank guns before they were able to have an impact, this allowed the German armour to push into the villages too easily. We may return to the Ardennes sometime later in the year ?

And now for some other stuff

Catching one of those beautiful winter days I managed a walk near the Langdales

Winter colours like nowhere else

We had a day trip out to Kendal where one of the charity/thrift shops had these two excellent books. They were well above the bar massive amount of detail and scenario for ECW

We had our trip to Vapnartak yesterday met loads of friendly wargamers, I actually took a load of bits and pieces to sell which I had collected and made a very respectable amount. On the show itself it seemed very busy, but there were less games on display and definitely less traders with quite a few spaces. But those there did seem to be selling stuff. Anyway it was nice to catch up with friends, chat about projects etc and quite fun to sell some stuff. This provided more money to spend on stuff

Loot pile one, mainly secondhand but I did try and buy a couple of bits from the traders as well. A few more little winter trees !

A few more walls to match the ones I have

Bargain of the day a gentleman was selling off his Perry samurai I wasn’t interested in the painted stuff but picked up his lead pile for a song 👍

Finally I have been trying to take some small videos of the railway in action and have put these together in a silly little montage if you don’t like model railways don’t click on the link if you do it is only a couple of minutes in total 🙂

That’s it for now gradually catching back up and back to painting figures yippee 

Thanks for checking by

Matt♥️