138 The siege of Colmar

Original Title: El cerco de Colmar

Late 1944, Alsace: Leclerc’s 2nd Armored Division pushed into the lines around Strasbourg on 19 November, while the I Army Corps smashed through the defenses at Belfort. By 23 November the French tricolor flew over the city and German units found themselves driven back and corralled around Colmar.

On 31 December the Wehrmacht struck back with Operation Nordwind — a winter gamble meant to sever the link between Patton’s and Patch’s forces and to pry open a corridor toward Colmar. If successful, the offensive might relieve encircled troops, buy precious time, or even blunt the Allied advance.

General Jean de Lattre answered by shoring up the front: the 3rd Algerian Infantry Division, the 1st Free French Division and the 6th US Army Corps were thrown into the gaps as American units shifted north. Out of that hurried chessboard came the fight at Wingen-sur-Moder — a bitter, close-quarters clash whose aim was simple and urgent: stop Nordwind and keep the Germans bottled in Colmar.

	American	German
Division 1	6 Squad Bases - 14 Regular Infantry - 2 Officer - 4 Machine Gun Crew 3x AntiTank	8 Squad Bases - 24 Regular Infantry - 4 Elite Infantry - 2 Mortar Crew 2 Opel Blitz Truck 1x Engineer 1x Flamethrower
Division 2	4 Squad Bases - 8 Regular Infantry - 2 Elite Infantry - 2 Officer - 2 Machine Gun Crew 1 M3A1 Halftrack 2x Engineer	3 Squad Bases - 11 Regular Infantry - 1 Officer 4 Panzer IV 1x Medic
Strategy Decks	American Air Support 1 Morale 1 Supply 1	Command 1 Ground Support 1
Starting Strategy Cards	3	2
Operations Cards	-	-
Deployment Zone	Any hexes on boards 4B, 5B and 12B.	Any hexes on boards 6A and 2A.
Starting Initiative
Objective	The Americans win if they manage to destroy at least 3 German tanks. If at the end of round 8 no side has achieved its objective, distribute victory points of the following form: -2 VP for the Germans for each crew of machine gun destroyed. -3 VP for Americans per every tank destroyed.	The Germans win if they manage to destroy all the enemy's machine guns. If at the end of round 8 no side has achieved its objective, distribute victory points of the following form: -2 VP for the Germans for each crew of machine gun destroyed. -3 VP for Americans per every tank destroyed.
Rounds	8
Actions per turn	3	3
Reinforcements	-	Round 4 (end), if the Germans have destroyed at least 3 crews machine gun on grey "R" hexes: 5 squad bases - 14 regular infantry - 4 elite infantry - 2 officers
Special Rules	-	-
Terrain Features	The stream is deep.