A Long December

 

Edited Xasthur Screenshot

By the middle of September 1944, Oberkommando Der Wehrmacht (OKW) under orders of Hitler had drawn up plans for a German counter-offensive in the Ardennes Forest. German forces were to smash through the Ardennes until they reached the Meuse River, then turn towards Antwerp and Brussels, splitting the Allied forces in half. In Hitler?s eyes this would force the Western Allies to sue for peace, possibly leaving them free to fight the Soviets in the East.

Allied misconceptions of the Ardennes played right into German hands and the Allies began to use the Ardennes areas as a rest area for veteran units and newly formed units yet to see combat. The build-up to the last major German ground offensive had drained the German Army (Wehrmacht Heer) of all its reserves and transporting this force of nearly 30 divisions would delay the offensive from late November to mid December.

At 5:30AM On December 16th the attack began and by 08:00 the German Sixth SS Panzer Army, Fifth Panzer Army and the Seventh Army attacked into the Ardennes. In the North Sepp Dietrich?s Sixth SS Panzer Army met stiff resistance from the US 2nd and 99th Infantry Divisions. In the Center section of the attack, Hasso von Manteuffel led the Fifth Panzer Army against the US 28th and 106th Infantry Divisions, forcing the surrender of two regiments of the 106th. Further South they crossed the River Our but Allied resistance slowed the German advance and by December 19th the US 101st Airborne Division had reached Bastogne. The defense of Bastogne forced the German advance around the city, surrounding it by the 21st.

The next day, General McAuliffe, Commander of the 101st Airborne encircled in Bastogne gave his famous response to a German Messenger asking for the Allied surrender, his response: NUTS! On the 23rd the weather allowed for Allied Aircraft to strike convoys and armored columns in the German rear areas and supplies were dropped on Bastogne. Further West the furthest point of Axis advance would stall only 10 miles from the Meuse River. Two days later on the 26th, Pattons 3rd Army would break the encirclement and end the siege.

January 1st the Germans would desperately launch one more offensive against the Allies that included Operation Baseplate, an attack on Allied Airfields in the Low Countries and Operation Nordwind an attack on Eisenhower?s 7th Army. By the 21st of January The fighting was so fierce that the Allies were forced to pull back behind the Moder River. The German offensive ended on the 25th and by January 28th American soldiers occupied the same lines they occupied on December 16th. It was an exhaustively long and bitterly cold struggle in the Ardennes, but Hitler?s last gamble in the West was lost and the Battle of the Bulge was over.

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Battlefield Objectives: The Battle of the Bulge In this event we will use combined operations like never before in FSO. Standard FSO objectives will be used which may or may not coincide with the Battlefield Objectives. These Battlefield objectives can be captured and recaptured by the two opposing sides throughout the course of this FSO. The number of bases in each sides possession only at the end of frame 3 will be added into the final score. 

Ardennes GV Base Map

- Both sides will start with 10 Vehicle Bases in the Ardennes Region.
- The Allies will start with Bastogne and St Vith which are Custom Towns for the map. These Custom Towns require every single Town Object to be down for capture. Including the the Siren Object.

 

- Only the highlighted fields in this map may be captured.
- Only the highlighted fields in this map will have GV's enabled.
- The highlighted fields in this map may not be attacked prior to T+60.
- There are custom rivers on the map. These Rivers can only be crossed by Bridge. The In-game Clipboard map shows these rivers using a thin blue line. The bridges are located in numerous locations along the rivers. These bridges can not be destroyed.

Captureable/GV Enabled Fields Listed below:

ALLIED GV BASES:

V107
V108
V109
V113 (Bastogne)
V118
V119
V121
V231 (St Vith)
V239
V247

ALLIED VEHICLES:

Jeep
M-3
M-8
M-16
Sherman Firefly VC (Disabled T+90)

AXIS GV BASES:

V100
V221
V223
V224
V226
V227
V234
V236
V241
V246

AXIS VEHICLES:

USE OF AIRCRAFT/VEHICLES:

- Every player will start in an Aircraft.
- Ground Vehicles will only be enabled after T+60.
- Firefly, Tiger and Whirbelwind will be disabled at T+90.

ALLIED AIRCRAFT:

A-20G (Min 24 Aircraft)
B-26B (Min 24 Aircraft or 8 Formations)
P-38J (Min 48 Aircraft)
P-38L
P-47D-25 (Min 48 Aircraft)
P-47D-40
P-51D

ALLIED AIRFIELDS:

A3
A9
A10
A13
A15
A17
A35
A34
A38
A50

Ar 234 (Max 24 Aircraft or 8 Formations)
Bf 109 G-14
Bf 109 K-4 (Max 48 Aircraft)
Fw 190 A-8
Fw 190 D-9 (Max 48 Aircraft)
Fw 190 F-8
Me 262 (Max 24 Aircraft)

AXIS AIRFIELDS:

A142
A144
A148
A152
A163
A166
A169
A183
A194
A198

 

SCORING:

- Jet Aircraft + 05 Points
- 2 Engine Aircraft + 03 Points
- 1 Engine Aircraft + 02 Points
- Heavy Vehicle* + 02 Points
- Vehicle + 01 Point
- Aircraft landed before T+120 + 02 Points

*Heavy Vehicles are Fully Tracked Armor (Panzer, Sherman, Tiger, WW)

GROUND OBJECTS

POINTS/OBJECTS (Only objects in primary FSO objectives scored)

- 00.1 Gun
- 00.1 Mannable Gun
- 03.1 Ammo Bunker
- 03.1 Fuel Bunker
- 03.1 Barracks
- 03.0 Radar
- 27.8 Vehicle Hangar
- 27.8 Fighter Hangar
- 27.8 Bomber Hangar
- 03.1 Town Building
- 03.1 Object at strategic target
- 00.8 Truck in convoy
- 01.6 Train

BATTLEFIELD OBJECTIVES SCORING: (Ground Objects at Ardennes bases not scored)

- Bastogne: 500 Points
- St Vith: 500 Points
- Vehicles Base: 100 Points

CUSTOM CITY MAP (BASTOGNE V113 and ST VITH V231)

CUSTOM SMALL AIRFIELD MAP

 

SETTINGS:

Terrain - Ardennes08
Icon Range - Short (2400)
Radar - Off
Fighter and Bomber Warning Range - 26400 (5 miles)
Vehicle Warning Range - 10560 (2 miles)
Tower Range - 26400 (for display to match the above Fighter and Bomber Warning)
External view for bombers (F3) - On
Friendly Collisions - Off
Enemy Collisions - On
Kill Shooter - Off
Fuel - 1.0
Ack - 0.4
Time - 11:00 AM
Formations - Enabled
Bombsite calibration - Normal (MA mode)
Weather - Heavy Clouds, Thick Overcast, No Wind
Object Downtime - 20 Minutes

CICs, Please take the time to contact your squads assigned to your side and ask what their choice of rides would be.

You can contact all the squads on your side here.

http://ahevents.org/fso/email_addresses.html

Please note the updated rules.

http://ahevents.org/fso-related/fso-rules.html

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