Allied forces in the Ardennes consisted primarily of American troops - some new and inexperienced, others exhausted and battle-worn. The Germans had some initial success. They achieved complete surprise and pushed westwards through the middle of the American line, creating the 'bulge' that gave the battle its name. But this success was short-lived.
Except none of that came to pass. After all, this was 1944 and the circumstances surrounding this attack were completely different. After dogged American resistance slowed up the German advance, the Allies were able to play their trump card and destroy the German forces from the air. The Germans were able to create a bulge in the Allied line, from which the battle gets its name, but by the end of January that Bulge was completely closed and the Allies had a clear route into Germany itself.
close combat 4 battle of the bulge crack
The second was an offensive further south in the Alsace-Lorraine region codenamed Nordwind. This was designed to break through the American lines which were now stretched due to the departure of Patton's 3rd Army. However, the Americans had anticipated the attack and halted it with heavy losses. All the while Allied counter-attacks continued in the Ardennes. The next major counter-attack was launched on the 30th of December and another major counter-attack was launched in the north a few days later. By the end of January the bulge had been completely closed up and the lines had returned to what they were before the German offensive had started.
On some of the scenarios I've looked through, the designer has showed literal use of crack units on the battlefield. Sometimes, the entire platoon has either crack or vet units in it with +2s in abundance.
WWII training and professionalism was bit less than modern (US Army). I'd jump down one level for each. That would make a lot of units "veteran" after they'd seen some combat and many would be "crack". That would be the very "veteran" units.
The rating is a soft one and how you rate a unit will be different to different people. For example, the rather famous example of the I&R platoon during the battle of the bulge. A platoon that held off an entire battalion - yet that platoon by the definitions would be rated as 'Green'. So I wouldn't get too hung up on how a unit is labeled, but rather how they perform in the battle being recreated and whether that performance generally aligns with what happened. You can also get to the point where during WW2 a squad was rarely composed of soldiers who all had an equal amount of combat experience or training. So a squad rating would probably be representative of a collective guesstimate of how they would perform as a unit. Perhaps if the squad leader had performed well then just the squad leader would push the squad's rating higher. Perhaps also if a unit had been in combat for an extended period of time without taking in any replacements they might perform at a higher level. Perhaps the opposite effect is true and a unit in extended combat would perform at a lower level.
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PCBest map: Retaliation takes you to a war-ravaged Geneva, with a giant main building for close-quarters combat, with plenty of places for longer-range fighting and wall-running outside.Bonus celebrity voice: Kit Harrington is in this and he is a right baddie.
In the late summer of 1950, North Korean troops twice broke through the Pusan Perimeter along the same bend of the Naktong River. In both instances they gained access to a road network that positioned them to thrust deep into the southeastern corner of the Korean peninsula and capture the all-important port of Pusan. And in each case the U.S. Army called on the Marines to save South Korea.During the two battles to restore the perimeter, a big part of the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade's punch came from the close air support provided by its air component, Marine Aircraft Group (MAG) 33. The unit"s performance was not only critical to the success of the brigade but also displayed the cohesion between air and ground that existed in the Corps-a Marine air-ground task force (MAGTF) personified 30 years before MAGTFs had in fact become part of Marine doctrine.MAG-33 included two fighter squadrons, VMF-214 and VMF-323-both flying Vought F4U-4B Corsairs-an observation squadron, VMO-6; and an air-control unit, Marine Tactical Air Control Squadron 2. The air group was headquartered at Itami, Japan, and commanded by Colonel Allen C. Koonce until 20 August 1950 and then by Colonel Frank G. Dailey, father of future Marine general and current National Air and Space Museum Director John R. Dailey. The two fighter squadrons were sea based, each flying off an escort carrier. VMF-214, the Black Sheep Squadron, was in the USS Sicily (CVE-118) and commanded by Major Robert Keller during the first battle and Lieutenant Colonel Walter Lischeid during the second battle, while Major Arnold Lund commanded VMF-323, the Death Rattlers, deployed on board the USS Badoeng Strait (CVE-116).
On the night of 5 August, the crack 4th Division of the North Korean People's Army (NKPA) began crossing the Naktong, which constituted most of the western Pusan Perimeter, where the river made a wide western bend. Within a week, the communist troops had routed elements of the U.S. 24th Infantry Division and overrun the "Naktong Bulge," the area formed by the bend. The Corps, living up to its moniker, "Fire Brigade," was pulled off an offensive on 14 August, forfeiting ground gained in hard fighting to the south. On the 17th, the battle to restore the perimeter along the Naktong began, with the Marines launching a head-on attack against their objective-heavily defended Obong-ni Ridge, later also known as "No-Name Ridge." It was a daunting position to assault frontally, but the terrain and the assignments of supporting Army units precluded the Marines from attacking elsewhere. A powerful air and artillery barrage softened the target. Eighteen MAG-33 Corsairs participated in the strike, and although the two fighter squadrons had a total of only four napalm tanks, the F4Us still laid an impressive amount of ordnance on the objective. Observing the strikes, 24th Division commander Major General John H. Church commented that Obong-ni Ridge appeared to be "floating."1 Lieutenant Colonel Harold S. Roise's 2d Battalion, 5th Marines then initiated the ground attack.Despite the shellacking, the ridge's defenders did not go down easily. The struggle for the heights lasted all day and was as vicious and bloody as any South Pacific battle. Machine-gun fire, mortar fire, and grenades took a heavy toll on the Marines. The ridge provided the North Koreans plenty of protection. They had dug in on both its slopes. When the communists came under air or artillery fire, they hunkered down in their reverse-slope positions, but when Marine riflemen advanced, the enemy defended from their forward-slope positions.Corsairs circled overhead, dived on the North Koreans when called upon, and acted as eyes for the land-bound Marines, providing them with real-time battlefield reconnaissance. While the NKPA trenches and earthworks shielded the enemy from everything but direct strikes, Marine pilots were determined to make those pinpoint attacks. One Marine rifleman watched a Corsair that, after failing to knock out a gun emplacement during a 30º to 45º dive, climbed high directly over the target. When only a speck in the sky, the Corsair rolled over on its back, pulled through into a vertical dive and came screaming down on the target. At the last moment, a bomb fell clear of the blue fighter and silently slid downward to explode directly on the enemy position, obliterating it in a cloud of dust and smoke.2Despite the North Koreans' strong defenses and tenacity, the Marines made progress. At 1100, immediately after MAG-33 pilots blasted NKPA positions on Hill 109, a platoon of Company D managed to seize the height near the northern end of the ridge. The platoon, however, had only 15 Marines still standing and was forced to fall back. Meanwhile, Marines of Company E, clawing up Obong-ni south of Company D, neared their assigned ridge-top objectives. They too called in an air strike to precede their final assault, but the Marine pilots, overly eager to direct their 20-mm cannon fire against the enemy, accidentally strafed some of the company's Leathernecks.3 The fighting that morning left the 2d Battalion staggered and suffering 60% casualties. At 1300 Lieutenant Colonel Raymond L. Murray, the 5th Marines' commander, ordered his 1st Battalion to advance in relief of the 2d. As the fresh Leathernecks moved forward, fire from the Black Sheep and Death Rattlers' Corsairs, as well as from Marine tanks and artillery, devastated the enemy positions along the hills.4 By 1500, riflemen of Companies A and B, 1st Battalion, had resumed the attack and, like the 2d Battalion, come under withering enemy fire. The effects of Marine combined arms, however, began to tell during the afternoon assault.5Company B, advancing on the right, gained the crest of the ridge and by late afternoon was dug in on its northernmost heights, Hills 102 and 109. But Company A, attacking on the left, was held up by intense communist fire. As darkness fell, the unit consolidated its position below the ridge's crest. The Marines expected the worst.6 They did not have to wait long. At 2000, in the gathering hazy, dusty darkness, the clanking of treads announced the presence of four enemy T-34 tanks grinding along the road that passed around the northern end of Obong-ni Ridge and led to the rear of the Marine positions. A forward air controller (FAC) called in an air strike, and within minutes MAG-33 Corsairs had the tanks under attack. A direct hit gutted the trailing vehicle, and the North Korean infantry around the T-34s scattered. Marine M-26 tanks and gutsy Leathernecks armed with 3.5-inch rockets and 75-mm recoilless rifles then moved in and knocked out the other three steelmonsters.7The battlefield settled into an uneasy peace until 0230 when, out of the darkness, the North Koreans launched a sudden and determined assault against the Marines' lines. At some points the NKPA troops broke through and hand-to-hand fighting ensued. One platoon of Company A was overrun; elsewhere the Marines managed to fight off the assault. As dawn broke, Companies A and B still held their lines, but at a high cost: 175 of the 375 Marine defenders were casualties of the night's horrific assault.8The attack, however, was the NKPA 18th Regiment's last gasp, and the unit was hardly prepared to face the morning's maelstrom of Marine combined arms. Corsairs of VMF-323 were over the battlefield at dawn and ready for action as Companies A and B continued the previous day's advance. At 0734 Lieutenant Colonel George R. Newton, the 1st Battalion's commanding officer, called for an air strike on a nest of machine guns. Nine minutes later, a Death Rattler pilot silenced the guns by planting a 500-pound bomb directly into the enemy position. The strike came so quickly and so close to an advancing platoon of Marines that all of the Leathernecks were knocked off their feet and one of them was even killed. Five minutes later, however, the survivors seized the crest of the ridge's Hill 117.9
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