"Hill of Death" scenario AAR by Glenn Sellar

The epic scenario that Dave Nicholas and I played deserves an AAR:

Hill 112, near Caen, France, 11 July 1944. After a night of infantry assaults on hilltop positions of the British 5th Duke of Cornwall Light Infantry, the SS of 9th Panzer division renewed their assault at dawn, this time supported by six Tiger tanks. The British had set up most of their force out of sight behind the crest line of the flat-topped complex of hills. As the SS infantry approached the northern and central hills, HMG fire from the crest of the northern hill, directed by the Cornwall’s CO, cut down more than a dozen SS as they assaulted across open ground. In response, the Tigers moved into position, began firing, and quickly neutralized the British MGs and entrenched riflemen on the crests of the northern and central hills.

The SS, now supported closely by the tanks, worked their way slowly up the slope of the hill. The Tigers blasted every Brit in view on the hillcrest, but the first Tiger to top the crest was instantly set ablaze by a lucky shot from a 6 pdr in the wheatfields on the plateau above. As the SS worked their way from shellhole to shellhole on the northern and central hills, British infantry from the southernmost hill rushed northward to the aid of their comrades. Smelling blood, two of the Tigers broke off from the fighting on the northern hill to intercept the maneuvering British forces. Unsure of the armaments of the British reinforcements concealed behind the crestline, the two Tigers charged, intent on overrunning the first infantry they encountered in the open ground atop the central hill, only to run into an unpleasant surprise: as their first victims were armed with a PIAT, which they fired point blank at the lead tank an instant before they would have been overrun. The charge exploded against the turret of the lead tank and it stopped and fell silent. As the second Tiger fired MG’s at the Cornwalls the Brits blew the treads off of the now-silent lead Tiger, but when the SS crew regained their senses they fired their Nahverteidigungswaffe and succeeding is driving off the attackers.

Meanwhile, a British reinforcement force of two towed 17-pdr AT guns, followed at a crawl by seven Churchill tanks had reached the southernmost hill. The still mobile second Tiger promptly drove around the stricken lead tank and through the British infantry behind them, heading for the British trucks towing the AT guns. The intercepting Tiger tore into the trucks with MG fire, quickly immobilizing one. As the British crews were scrambling to unload, two of the squadron of Churchill tanks crawled up the hill to their rescue, foolhardily engaging the Tiger at point blank range. The SS Tiger crew quickly swiveled their turret left then right, destroying both British tanks in quick succession. Worse yet for the British, the other three mobile Tigers then arrive in support. But the sacrifice of the Churchills was not in vain as they had distracted the SS tankers just long enough for the AT gun crews to unhook and unlimber their guns. The reinforcing Tigers desperately pelted the scrambling gun crews with MG fire and poorly aimed HE rounds, succeeding in sending one of the AT crews running for their lives. But the other gun crew stood to, bravely loading and firing their gun at the SS tanks lined up at close range. In three rapid shots, the AT gun knocked out as many Tigers, setting the first two ablaze. They had little time to celebrate their victory, however, as an 88 mm HE round from the fourth Tiger scored a direct hit on their gun, killing them instantly.

Meanwhile, the SS infantry were steadily clearing the northern hill, with the British in disarray following the death of their commander by a bullet from a German sniper. But the lone remaining mobile Tiger was now sorely outnumbered by the five the remaining Churchills, which were massing to counterattack the northern hill. Bowing to the inevitable, the Germans retreated, leaving Hill 112 in the hands of the battered British forces.