March 6, 1943: True to his creed of attack being the best defense, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel decided to attack the Commonwealth forces near the Tunisian town of Médenine preparing to attack the German held Mareth Line. Unbeknownst to him, a combination of Ultra, interrogated prisoners and reconnaissance missions had provided the Allies with intimate knowledge of the coming German offensive.
Though the Commonwealth forces, expecting to go onto the offensive themselves, had not managed to fortify their positions with extensive minefields and wire, they did have well dug-in and camouflaged anti-tank guns, a heavy artillery presence and a superiority in both men and machines.
In addition, the Commonwealth planned to funnel the enemy armor’s advance into tank killing grounds, for example by the placement of several dummy minefields—which indeed historically the Germans did not risk to traverse—and then to pummel them with artillery and anti-tank gun fire.
This scenario depicts the advance of the 15th panzer division along the Toujane-Médenine road.
Historically, the Axis forces failed to make any noteworthy progress and the result was a crushing German defeat. After having suffered heavy losses the Germans were forced to retreat back to their starting positions as further losses would have greatly compromised the defense of the Mareth Line.
This battle proved to be the last battle in North-Africa commanded by Rommel, although the Allies didn’t find out about this until much later.
As the Commonwealth player, will you be able to inflict the same catastrophic defeat on the Axis’ forces or are you able, as the German player, to give the Desert Fox a more fitting farewell?
| British | German | |
| Division 1 |
5 Squad Bases 1 QF 6-Pounder AT gun (DotF Next Wave stats against vehicles: Range = 7, Firepower = 6) 1x |
2 Tiger I |
| Division 2 |
8 Squad Bases 3 QF 6-Pounder AT gun (DotF Next Wave stats against vehicles: Range = 7, Firepower = 6) 1x |
9 Squad Bases 4 Opel Blitz Trucks 1x |
| Strategy Decks | Disruption 1 Artillery 2 (attack cards hit on 4+; see Special Rules) Morale 1 |
German Air Support 1 Command 1 |
| Starting Strategy Cards | 2 | 0 |
| Operations Cards | 002 Heavy Fog (shared); remove Status Phase of Round 2) ▪ Desperate Defenders (013) ▪ No Surrender (014) ▪ Camouflage (017) |
002 Heavy Fog (shared); remove Status Phase of Round 2) 012 Massive Confusion 018 Seize the Initiative 022 Barrel Modifications (only affects Panzer IIIs) |
| Deployment Zone | Division 1 sets up on maps 13B and/or 16B Division 2 sets up on maps 18A and/or 19A |
Division 1 enters with an Advance or Fire and Movement action on Action Phase of Round 1. The first hex entered must be the westernmost Road hex on map 14A. However, should this hex ever be involuntarily filled to its maximum stacking (i.e. squads being Pinned or Disrupted, vehicles being Lightly or Heavily Damaged) only then may the Clear hex directly to its north be used. Division 2 enters on the Action Phase of Round 2, in the same way as Division 1. Squads must enter being transported on a vehicle! |
| Starting Initiative | Setup First |  |
| Objective |
The Germans win immediately if they exit 3 tanks off the easternmost road hex on map 16B. It costs 1 movement point to exit. If they haven’t fulfilled these conditions by the end of Round 8, calculate Victory Points (VPs) as follows: Germans also score VPs for exiting units off map via the road hex on map 16B: Commonwealth forces score VPs for destroyed enemy units: Note that the Commonwealth does not earn VPs for any controlled victory point objectives (by controlling them, however, they do negate these points to the Germans!). The Commonwealth can potentially score 31 VPs. |
|
| Rounds | 8 | |
| Actions per turn | 3 | 3 |
| Reinforcements | Receive 2 Sherman tanks during status phase of Round 6. They enter on easternmost road hex on map 16B. One or both are lost if they cannot enter because of stacking violations and/or Germans control the hex. | - |
| Special Rules |
Camouflaged AT-guns: AT guns may be assigned Concealed Squad markers. Important Rule Reminders To summarize: |
|
| Terrain Features | All Crevasse hexes to be treated as Wadi hexes. | |
Medic
Engineer
Bravo Unit
Concealed
Flamethrower
Alpha Unit
Sources
"Battle of Medenine," Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Medenine)
"Battle of Medenine," Africa Axis and Allied, (http://africaaxisandallied.blogspot.nl/2015/03/battle-of-medenine.html)
“The Battle Of Medenine,” Queen’s Royal Surrey Regiment, (http://www.queensroyalsurreys.org.uk/ww2/middle_east/qme020.shtml)
“Battle of Medenine, 6 March 1943,” HistoryOfWar.org, (http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_medenine.html)