Panzer Campaigns Scheldt '44 - I Crossed the Gent-Brugge Canal Just to Die on the Other Side

 According to the designer of Scheldt '44, the Moerbrugge scenario is unwinnable. In real life, the actions depicted in the scenario were an absolute mess. Due to an underestimation of the Allied commanders, the almost non-existent German resistance ended up being a superbly laid defensive system all along the Gent-Brugge Canal.

Much to my surprise, I was able to muster enough suppression onto the enemy defenses and assaulted an enemy position across the canal. The key to the success was keeping the enemy defenders disrupted. I had to wait for the right time (a theme that is recurrent in Scheldt '44), roughly a day or so.

But when the time was right, with boats from a lone engineers company and infantry from the Stuart Force (a brigade from the 4th Canadian Armored Division) I was able to cross the canal and evict the defenders and own some real estate on the far side. See screenshot above, the crossing happened southeast of Moerbrugge.

The Polish 44th Armored Brigade is having a hard time suppressing the Germans and a slower pace of operations is in order. See screenshot below.

The sweet taste of the assault lasted little and the sourness of not being able to support the Canadian infantry across the canal came sooner than later. The Germans threw all they had onto my right flank, isolating the intruders, killing them in mass and blocking their retreat route. See screenshot below.

The German counter-attack (counters with bright green center and light blue edges).

This short-lived moment of elation will be remembered, though. Along with the lesson learned: footholds are best when promptly reinforced.

Cheers,

JC