[MarkSheppard]

Something thrown together; not much playtested, but a simple small scenario of infantry v infantry.

Operation Stoesser*
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Date: December 17, 1944*

Battle Location: High Fens, Belgium*
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Battle Type: Semi-Historical German airborne assault vs US forces*
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Description: This ahistorical scenario explores an alternate outcome of Operation Stoesser (Hawk) -- which was a midnight drop of some 1,300 Fallschirmjager during a snowstorm on the night of 17 December 1944 under the command of Friedrich August Freiherr von der Heydte -- the only German night-time drop of World War II.*
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The plan for Stoesser was that the Fallschirmjager would seize the crossroads at Belle Croix Jalhay (N-68 - N-672) and hold it for 24 hours until the arrival of the 12th SS Pz Div.*
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From the start, the plan kept going wrong -- to keep the element of surprise, it was decided to drop without reconnaissance or aerial photographs.*
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The Fallschirm regiments tasked with providing manpower for the mission sent their misfits instead of their best troops as ordered. Many had never jumped out of an airplane before.*
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The Luftwaffe was able to assemble 112 Ju-52s for the drop, but many pilots had never flown the Ju-52 before and half had never flown a combat mission.*
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Out of 1,300 men sent out; only about 125 men landed near the drop zone -- some Ju-52s landed back at base with their troops on board, while hundreds of men were dropped 50 miles away from the actual target.*
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More grimly, due to the near total darkness, snowstorm and high winds, large amounts of paratroopers were crippled due to impacts with trees; many died where they fell, to be found as the snow melted in the spring of 1945.*
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By noon of the 17th, Heydte had gathered up nearly 300 troops from searching the surrounding woods, but with only enough ammunition for a single fight, seizing the crossroads was out of the question, so Heydte changed the mission to reconnaissance.*
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Unfortunately, because all of his radios had been lost/destroyed in the jump, Heydte didn't know that the 12th SS Pz Div's advance had been blunted at the Battle of Elsenborn Ridge. Likewise, he was unable to call for help/assistance from higher command -- he had earlier requested carrier pigeons, only for Sepp Dietrich to turn down the request.*
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After three days of waiting, now with only one day's supply of food and water, on 19 December, Heydte ordered his men to break through Allied lines and reach the German lines. Only a third made it.*
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This slightly ahistoric scenario uses a randomly generated map to represent the crossroads, and assumes that enough of Heydte's forces were able to gather that night for an offensive. Can you succeed where Friedrich August Freiherr von der Heydte failed?*
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Sources: Wikipedia Pages on Operation Stoessner and Friedrich August Freiherr von der Heydte.*