36 inch Battlefields: The Battle of Kasserine Pass **Lengthy Post**

Perhaps the most anticipated blogging event of the SOUND OFFICERS CALL year, I set up the Battle of Kasserine Pass with Dave on Friday and ended up playing it out solo over the weekend.  The result?  An extremely fun and satisfying wargame with lots of maneuver, surprises, and lessons learned to further refine the scenario for my "36 Inch Battlefield" games.  You'll want to pour a fresh cup of coffee for this one.

The II (US) Corps Area of Operations.  Upper left is Tebessa and II Corps HQs.  Kasserine is almost dead center.  Lower right you can see 10th Panzer and 21st Panzer crowding around the Faid Pass and the passes around Maknassa.

Readers may recall my "Scenario Considerations" post for Kasserine.  The rules played are my modified version of Peter's WWII Gridded Rules based on Panzerblitz.  The scenario is a heavily modified version of Martin Rapier's Kasserine Pass game from April, 2020.  I am indebted to both of these Gentlemen for their expertise, rules, and research.

Now, let's get back in the war!

0-Hour

The battle commences with 10th Panzer maneuvering around Faid Pass to assault the dug-in Regimental Combat Team from 34th Infantry Division (ID).  The Germans have Combat Air Support (CAS) on Turn 1 and dedicate artillery fire missions to the destruction of the 34th's RCT at the pass.  The dark brown hexes are level 2 hills and only infantry can scale them.

501st Heavy Panzer Battalion awaits the clearing of the pass while the motorized infantry from 10th Panzer Division prepare to assault the pass.

21st Panzer moves through the passes around Maknassa 

H + 10 Hours

The Preparation time to assault the Faid Pass exits has taken almost 10 hours of strikes by German artillery and the Luftwaffe as well as the organic weapons from the German infantry battalions.

The poor dogfaces at the Faid Pass are taking a beating from artillery and air strikes while the German infantry regiment closes up to assault next turn.

German Infantry with the "heavy weapons upgrade" advance to assault the pass.  The red chit indicates disorganization.  Interestingly, given the close-in nature of the battles fought here, most sides never even used their heavy weapons upgrades.  Fighting was adjacent.

The Allies are not idle, and the Americans begin shuffling units around to bolster the line between Kasserine and Sbeitla.

American forces around Sbeitla and reinforcing armor from Combat Command C, 1st Armored Division move in to form a defensive line.

Yes - they're shermans - wrong tank I know ....but they still look cool!!

10th Panzer has not yet cleared the pass, while 21st Panzer by-passes and moves up towards Sbeitla

21st Panzer Division in all its glory!

H + 15 Hours

It has taken almost 15 hours for German forces from 10th Panzer Division to clear the RCT from 34th ID at the Faid Pass.  The German motorized infantry regiment that over runs the US RCT rallies and prepares to move north with their kamaraden.

15 total hours have elapsed so far

Faid Pass is cleared after 3 turns and German forces are on the move!

German recce reaches the Fondouk Pass and engages/skirmishes with American Grant tanks while the panzer regiments move up

American air strikes hammer back at the attackers

Meanwhile 1st ID pulls out of Gafsa, headed back towards Kasserine.  The Americans are moving back to consolidate their line.  Next stop - Feriana!

H + 24 Hours

No German CAS is available, and German artillery is ineffective against US Grant Tanks at Fondouk pass.  A tank engagement is ongoing at the pass while 10th Panzer brings up more combat power.  The US Grant tank battalion is eventually destroyed by German armored reinforcements.

The German Recce Battalion is predictably not faring well against the US tankers from 1st Armored Division.

Meanwhile 501st Heavy Panzer clears the Faid Pass and 10th Panzer is still on the move!

Tactical pause for 21st Panzer.  Rommel doesnt want to waste his troopers in a meatgrinder forward assault against Sbeitla.  21st Panzer moves west around the mountains to their front to confront Kasserine instead.

Note the distance between 21st (left) and 10th Panzer (right) growing

US forces destroy the German recce battalion at the Fondouk Pass and a Panzer Regiment is forced back after heavy fighting with the US tankers

US force push infantry from Thala towards Kasserine to bolster the line.

H + 34 Hours

No German CAS is available.  10th Panzer does not decisively commit to the fighting at Fondouk as the division commander does not want to bog down but the German panzers are doing just fine.  They let artillery 

10th Panzer Division coming up!

US CAS comes online and absolutely punishes the spearheads of the 21st Panzer Division, forcing a Panzer IV battalion back.  Artillery disrupts the 21st Panzer's forward reconnaissance screen before fires from the Anti Tank Battalion entrenched around Kasserine knock it out of the fight.

Recce Battalion, 21st Panzer is disrputed

H + 43 Hours

No German CAS.  German artillery fire disrupts 1st ID as they are pulling out of Feriana. German infantry from 21st Panzer occupy the town on the heels of the Americans as they are pulling out.

US Armor in Fondouk Pass is destroyed and 10th Panzer rolls on

Meanwhile the 1st ID, caught in the retreat, is fighting for its life along the Kasserina-Feriana road.  2 RCTs are gobbled up.

21st Panzer Approaches Kasserine and pays for it as US AT Fire opens up on them

21st Panzer takes a wide detour using the mountains to shield them from the dug in defenders at Kasserine 

This turn also got to see the AAA rules in effect as American P-40s attempt to swarm the 10th Panzer Division's columns.  While teh AAA is ineffective, the American planes do no discernable damage to the ground elements.

H + 52 Hours

No German CAS.  German IDF disrupts the 1st ID troopers on the road from Feriana who cant seem to catch a break.  The lead elements are knocked out by intense German fire.  The US Forces are dangerous, though, and 21st Panzer loses an armor battalion to American AT fire from Kasserine.  Meanwhile the 501st Heavy Panzer Battalion is disrupted by US Artillery fire.

US Infantry pulling out of Feriana are caught in a deadly ambush (red tokens)

Heavy infantry fighting outside Feriana on the road to Kasserine.  German forces catch up with the retreating elements of 1st Infantry Division and destroy them.

German fires and artillery finish off the beleaguered elements of the 1st ID.

Meanwhile the 10th Panzer Division breaks through to the north.  American forces are going to have to abandon the Kasserine line!

H + 58 Hours

Not much combat during this operational period but the US Pushes their AT guns south off the ridge in vicinity of Sbeitla and at Kasserine.  This should keep the German armor further away from the main line of resistance.

H + 61 Hours

No German CAS.  German artillery disrupts american infantry in vicinity of Sbeitla, and the 501st Heavy Panzer Battalion pushes the US AT Gun Battalion back near Sbeitla.  The Germans are using an infantry kampfgruppe here to keep the US AT guns occupied while their armor by passes and heads north.

The German elements patrolling and assaulting the US AT guns are disrupted from American artillery fire.  Over in the 21st Panzer Division area of operations near Kasserine, American AT guns knock out another Panzer Battalion!

H + 65 DOUBLES ROLLED  

This indicates a random event.  The random event rolled for is "lost enemy supply column ambushed - German unit nearest the enemy loses a Disruption Marker.  The Germans near Sbeitla lose the cursed D marker that is keeping them close to breaking.

German artillery and infantry pound the US AT Gun Battalion near Sbeitla on the ridgeline.  Also as the US abandons the Kasserine line, they fail to destroy the supply dump at Kasserine.  British "Vic Force" arrives on the northern table edge.  The battle is starting to reach a climax now.  The American defense on the ridge in the vicinity of Sbeitla and around Kasserine is actually very strong, the Germans are by-passing them with mobile forces and heading north.

American mechanized infantry against German mechanized infantry.  Germans are throwing artillery and air at the Americans to keep them disrupted.

A ground assault finishes them off while the Germans attempt to slide through the valley.  Note the US AT unit on the ridgeline.

To which the Germans quickly attempt to over run - this fight would be ongoing for the rest of the battle as the stubborn US AT guns refused to give up and kept rallying

US Artillery used to great effect

H + 70 Hours

German CAS Does arrive and attacks the US AT Battalion at Sbeitla.  The Germans release the Centauro Armored Division from Corps Reserve.  They immediately head north and capture Gafsa.  Uh-Oh.  General Fredendall is looking everywhere for someone to blame.

The 21st Panzer - what's left of it - long suffering under the US AT guns, bypasses Kasserine and heads north into more open country.  With trucks and Self Propelled Anti Tank rolling!

No Allied CAS this turn.  Vic Force, engages and destroys a Panzer Battalion from 10th Panzer.

H + 74 DOUBLES ROLLED.  Random Event.

"The timeline is slipping, General.  Get moving".  All German units get an extra hex of movement this turn.

This was the decisive turn.  German armor is able to exit the board and occupy Sbiba well north of where they are supposed to be.  Vic Force sets up a cordon but at this point, the Germans own Gafsa, Feriana, Sbiba, and are a stones-throw from Tebessa.  I call the game.  This is a German Victory 9 - 5 in terms of points.  The British could have taken back Sbiba from the Germans.  Maybe.  But with 21st Panzer bearing down on Tebessa, the Americans would not have been able to lend much assistance.

LESSONS LEARNED

Probably more points for the scenario here than for the planning but I'll try to touch on both.  There were alot of things that went wrong for both sides in this battle.  The Germans changed their plan, originally opting for a narrow attack with overwhelming forces, they opted, on turn 3, for a battle of maneuver, using their highly mobile forces to do so and instead of assaulting Kasserine as they did historically, they by-passed which turned out to be the winning move.  The Americans cant defend everything and instead must win by destroying German units, because the Germans are most certainly going to take a few towns.

The Americans were all over the place and were much less aggressive than they should have been.  I like this scenario as both sides have their strengths and weaknesses.  The Germans dont have alot of infantry.  What they do have is hard-hitting and mobile, but they cannot afford to lose infantry units early-on.  therefore they have to be choosy about where they commit to fight, hence 21st Panzer not succumbing to a meat-grinder style attack at Kasserine.  The Americans on the other hand have lots of infantry but they are foot-mobiles and slow as molasses in January...

After just wrapping up the battle - these things were fresh on my mind: 

Scenario.  The scenario definitely needs some tweaking.  I completely missed some units' starting locations and those will need to be accounted for.

Random Events Table.  This was a great addition to hte game.  Unfortunately I only got to roll on it twice but it still adds some tension and extra flavor to the game.

Combined Arms.  I loved both sides' use of Combined Arms tactics in this game.  Both sides pounded their targets with artillery, ranged fire, and infantry assault to finish off the defenders.  The Germans made excellent use of infantry to screen and skirmished with American AT guns while the main forces bypassed heavy resistance.  Textbook!

Limited Artillery Salvos.  Limiting the artillery salvos was an excellent call, and forces you to be more thoughtful about its use.  Each turn is a decision on whether to use it or not.  But when I used it, I checked another ammo block off.  This was great fun and had a more realistic feel to it.

Airpower / CAS rules.  I need to codify a few things about air power, which I was using as artillery.  IE can it destroy units.  Can it force units back?  Can certain units fire AAA or only dedicated AAA units?  So much here is abstracted that I'm wondering just how literal to be here...

Scouts/ Recce.  Something I've been thinking alot about in terms of 36 inch battlefields, is the use of recce and scouts to maintain contact with the enemy and "bleed" him while the main force maneuvers.  This would be a slick way to take advantage of the target priority rules, and force the enemy to commit his recce to stopping your recce.  Some very cool decision-making here that really lends itself to a realistic narrative.  This is entirely possible with these rules and I'm keen to give this tactic a try in a future battle.

Scenario Complexity.  Yes - the scenario is a bit complex and admittedly I was very keen on getting it on the table without printing it out first.  Next time I should have it printed out.

Not enough hills.  It's true.  This battlefield was way more open than Martin Rapier's.  The Germans had plenty of room to bypass defenses.  

No Wadis?  Yes, it's true.  I was in a hurry and forgot to add the Wadi features (I was going to use waterway/stream for Wadis) but the game played OK without them.  They would have constricted the German movement a bit more, and potentially aided the Allied defense.  Next time, better bring the Wadis!

But was it Kasserine Pass?  Not sure about this one.  The battle ended very similarly in many ways, but in others it was wildly different.  There was no large German attack against a large US force dug in.  There was plenty of skirmishing but it seemed there was no single decisive one battle or engagement that "settled" things.  Instead it was a running battle with the Germans bypassing and the Americans shifting reserves to meet renewed thrusts to the north.

So whether it was Kasserine or not, it was a ton of fun and it's been a great and worthwhile journey in the *months* leading up to the battle.  I had a very fun time developing the game, the forces, and the terrain.  It shows what you can do with 6mm minis within a 36" square area.

That's it for now.  Many more great things to come so stay tuned!  Perhaps a Napoleonic project or two looming?  And we'll give a college try to play some very popular tabletop games in 6mm.  What could go wrong???