STOUMONT RAILROADSTATION

Date : Dec 19, 1944
Location : Stoumont railroadstation, Ambleve Valley, Belgian Ardennes
Weather : Day, Fog
Ground Condition, Damp
Turns : 50
Map Size : 1.440 x 720 m
Playability : Initially designed as an German assault scenario against the AI, this slightly tweaked version should result in a fair battle in PBEM or TCP/IP.

When the 119th Infantry (minus the 2d Battalion) moved into the Stoumont area on the night of 18 December, the rifle companies of the 3d Battalion (Lt. Col. Roy G. Fitzgerald) deployed in a hastily established line north, south, and east of the town. The 3d was backed up by light 3-inch towed tank destroyers belonging to the 823d Tank Destroyer Battalion, two 90-mm. antiaircraft guns detached from the 143d Antiaircraft Battalion, and three battalion 57-mm. antitank guns.
On 19 December 1944, as the first light came, Peiper threw his infantry into the attack at the town of Stoumont, supporting this advance from the east with tanks firing as assault guns. The grenadiers and paratroopers were checked by fire from the American lines (3rd Battalion,119th. Inf. Div.) as they crossed the open fields. But the gunners of the 823d, who could not see fifty yards from the muzzles of their guns and whose frantic calls for flares to be fired over the German tanks went unheeded, could not pick out the enemy armor.

The Germans took some two hours to force their way inside Stoumont, but once the panzers ruled the streets the fight was ended. The rifle company on the south was cut off and the company in the town liquidated. The third company withdrew under a smoke screen laid down by white phosphorus grenades, This engagement had seen the Americans fighting without the artillery support so essential in American tactics. The 197th Field Artillery Battalion, assigned the direct support mission, did not reach firing positions in time to help the 3d Battalion. The 400th Armored Field Artillery Battalion was finally able to place one battery where it could give some help, but by this time the battle had been decided and the cannoneers fired only a few missions.

The situation was precarious, all this while the third company held to its slow-paced withdrawal along the river road, lashing back at the Panthers in pursuit. Retreating through Targnon and Stoumont Station the force reached a very narrow curve where the road passed between a steep hill and the river bank. Here the men of the 3rd. battalion were ordered to make their stand. It was about 1240. Fog was beginning to creep over the valley.


Map design : "McAuliffe"