The Riley Shuffle

The 5th Ranger Battalion was tasked with penetrating the front and operating behind enemy lines. They were to soften up the defenses in anticipation of a later breakthrough attempt. During the raid, one of the platoons under Lt. Gambosi became separated. They then linked up with Task …

1945-02-24

OA32

The 5th Ranger Battalion was tasked with penetrating the front and operating behind enemy lines. They were to soften up the defenses in anticipation of a later breakthrough attempt. During the raid, one of the platoons under Lt. Gambosi became separated. They then linked up with Task Force Riley, an armored unit with no infantry support. Gambosi's Rangers were put on halftracks and the advance continued. Ahead of them was the important crossroads village of Irsch. It had to be taken to prevent any German flank attack on the main force. Lt. Colonel Riley sent his lead company of Shermans into town, and they were quickly knocked out by tank-supported infantry armed with Panzerfausts. He turned to the Rangers and asked them to go in and salvage the situation.

Irsch, Germany

Operation Undertone, also known as the Saar-Palatinate Offensive, was a large assault by the U.S. Seventh, Third, and French First Armies of the U.S. Sixth and Twelfth Army Groups as part of the Allied invasion of Germany in March 1945 during World War II. A force of three corps was to attack abreast from Saarbrücken, Germany, along a 75-kilometre (47 mi) sector to a point southeast of Hagenau, France. A narrow strip along the Rhine leading to the extreme northeastern corner of Alsace at Lauterbourg was to be cleared by a division of the French First Army under operational control of the Seventh Army. The Seventh Army's main effort was to be made in the center up the Kaiserslautern corridor. In approving the plan, Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower asserted that the objective was not only to clear the Saar-Palatinate but to establish bridgeheads with forces of the Sixth Army Group over the Rhine between Mainz and Mannheim. The U.S. Third Army of the 12th Army Group was to be limited to diversionary attacks across the Moselle to protect the Sixth Army Group's left flank.

American

German

Scenario Type = Standard