Fateful Stand

The warm weather ... at least in the Northern Hemisphere ... is finally headed our way. What better time than NOW to bring you back to the dead of Winter. It is the Battle of the Bulge and once again some of the finest soldiers ever birthed by a great nation ... are standing firm ... against the violent force of an entire Panzer Division. There is no turning back on the road to Bastogne, the linchpin to Hitler's last offensive ... and the scene of A Fateful Stand ... replete with new counter art, a full collection of combat counters in Winter gear and camo schemes. Baby, it's cold outside! But we aim to warm the hearts of tactical-level gamers north and south of the equator.

COMPONENT-WISE: This is a ziplock ATS Historical Module that includes everything you need to play just bring your ATS Rulebook/Play Aids/10-sided dice. The counters are KING SIZE ATS -- 3/4", 5/8" and you receive all the counters and markers you need to play. The map is 'winterized' for evocative gaming, historical leaders straight from 'Band of Brothers' ... winter whitewashed tanks ... it is ALL there for your to enjoy.

NOVILLE, BELGIUM, 19 December 1944: Team Desobry (named for Major William R. Desobry, Commanding Officer of the 20th Armored Infantry Battalion, 10th Armored Division) assembled in the Noville area at 2300 hours on December 18. Because the unit arrived in the area during the hours of darkness, full advantage of the natural defenses of the terrain could not be made. Desobry set up a perimeter defense of the town under Captain Gordon Geiger of Battalion Headquarters Company. He sent forward three outposts, each consisting of a depleted platoon of infantry and a section of medium tanks. One went east on the road to Bourcy. Another went northeast on the Houffalize road and the third set up its roadblock at some crosstrails on the road towards Vaux. Desobry's outpost line was about 800 yards from his main body and engineers were instructed to install minefields in support of the roadblocks. Mines could not be laid due to a steady flow of American stragglers down these same roads.

Despite having orders to incorporate stragglers into his lines, with the exception of a platoon of armored infantry from CCR, 9th Armored Division, most of the retreating soldiers took to the cellars of Noville, hors de combat. At 0430 hours on December 19 the stream of stragglers ceased suddenly. At 0530 a group of half-tracks could be heard and dimly seen approaching the block on the Bourcy road. In the darkness the outpost could not tell whether they were friend or enemy. The sentry to the front yelled "Halt!" four times. The first vehicle pulled to a grinding halt within a few yards of him. Someone in the half-track yelled something in German. From a bank on the right of the road, Desobry's men showered the half-track with hand grenades. Several exploded as they landed in the vehicle. There was loud screaming as some of the Germans jumped or fell from the half-track and lay in the road. The rest of the enemy column quickly unloaded and deployed in the ditches along the road.

There ensued a 20-minute close-up fight with grenades and automatic weapons and although the roadblock crew was greatly outnumbered, the bullet fire did them no hurt because of the protection of the embankment. Staff Sergeant Leon D. Gantt finally decided that too many German potato-mashers were coming into the position and ordered his men to withdraw about 100 yards. At this the Germans turned their half-track around and ran for safety; they were apparently a reconnaissance element and had completed their mission by finding the American outpost. During the action the two tanks had done nothing although they were within 100 yards of the German column. Sergeant Gantt went to Second Lieutenant Allen L. Johnson and asked him why. Johnson replied that he hadn't been sure what to do. He then fired a couple of Parthian shots down the road but the enemy had already disappeared into the fog and darkness. At dawn the outpost fell back on Noville according to instructions.