Hauts Vents 10th July 1944

Not being avid Royal watchers, Steve and I got together on Royal Wedding Day to kick off a mini campaign based on the Skirmish Scenarios Book "Heroes of Omaha and Panzer Lehr". As a display of loyalty to the Crown we did take a moment to toast the happy couple, several times as I recall!!
The particular campaign chosen is the Lehr Counterattack campaign of six linked games that recreate the attempt by Panzer Lehr to counterattack American forces threatening to engulf St Lo in early July 1944.
Having suffered 30% casualties facing off the British in front of Villers Bocage, Panzer Lehr were rushed in to bolster the front in the US sector. The first game "Hauts Vents" features the German Kampfgruppe Heintz (see orbats below) in front of Hill 91 which overlooks St Lo attempting to hold back a thrust from US 3rd Armoured Division, prior to the arrival of Panzer Lehr. The next two scenarios are also fought on this map, so Steve and I plan to carry on to the next game taking the consequences of the result of this one. As this was a linked game it was important to both sides not to take a heavy loss, as this might impact heavily on the prospects for the entire campaign.

The map shows the terrain with north at the top. The table represents a valley in between two ridges, the highest being the Hauts Vents village on top of point 91 at the south map edge. The Germans were able to occupy all the ground except the six hexes in the top right corner, the US entry area. In addition the US armoured infantry had the option to enter from the top left four hexes. The two buildings in the valley floor were the American objectives.
The table threw up several challenges for both sides but principally the US having to attack. The buildings and bocage were considered "closed terrain", requiring massed firepower to kill enemy groups in those hexes. The long table enabled the Germans to position OPs and AT guns on hill 91 and be able to see US units maneuvering and cover large areas of open terrain. These problems together with muddy ground due to recent rainfall, causing wheeled vehicles to bog, and a pesky German PaK 40 on the eastern board edge able to fire at US vehicles ending their movement in open fields on that flank, forced the US troops into prepared killing zones and required a level of circumspect before moving.
The Germans were set up with full hidden placement, and fortunately the US were able to field two mobile recon platoons that enabled them to spot these ambush sites more effectively.

The table below shows the German held hill 91 in the foreground with the US entry and objective points marked.

The picture below shows the Manor and neighbouring houses. The Manor was particularly important for the US as it was a three story building on the north ridge which gave a panoramic view of the German positions allowing the US mortars to play their part.

Picture below shows the outskirts of Hauts Vents on hill 91. The hill and three story building in the foreground were the highest points on the table and in German control.

US recce soon established that the US objectives were strongly held with a platoon of infantry, the Company HQ, HMGs, wire and mines

The US recce and armour were forced to deploy together and so commenced to shoot up the German platoon holding the Manor complex. They had to proceed carefully because the Armoured Doughs deployed on the other road, so the armour was very wary of panzerfausts.

The massed fire of tanks, armoured cars and recce halftracks soon had the barn on fire and started to cause casualties.

Meanwhile, below, the Armoured Doughs edged in from the other flank "brassing up" the house in the foreground with the Halftrack MGs. The infantry dismounted and prepared to assault, only to shoot up the house with a bazooka group and knock out the two remaining rifle groups.

The German platoon commander was forced to pull in the perimeter and with two morale failures already, loosed off a barrage of rifle and MG42 fire at the Doughs on the road, wiping out the assault section. The commander then set to clearing casualties and removing pin markers in preparation for pulling back down the road to the Company MLR.

The Germans looked like pulling off a masterful withdrawal after bloodying the US advance only to fail their final moral check on the turn end and rout back behind the lines.

With the Germans ejected from the Manor, the US prepared to assault down the road into the valley (see picture below). However it was important to get the Company CO up in the Manor in contact with the mortars to either shell or smoke off German guns and strong points before closing in. This proved a frustrating exercise as it took the CO two moves to get into the building, only to discover the mortars were out of range and required a move to get on the table.

Despite getting a two move extension to the game on the random die roll at the end. The US forces had to be content with the ridge in their control.

So the game ended in a German win as the US failed to secure the objectives in time, but as the casualties were even and no US armour was lost, the Germans do not get attachment credits (credits can be used to effect the chances of getting a particular unit in the next scenario orbat) but will get set up benefits in the next game.

Victory Points were awarded one for each group or vehicle destroyed (not routed, unless captured) German casualties were 3 Rifles, 1 LMG and a sniper. US losses were 3 Rifles, 1 Bazooka and 1 HMG group (Sorry Steve I missed the sniper off the list yesterday). Which gave 5 VPs to each side.

So the Campaign Score stands at US 5, Germans 5

Thanks to Steve for a great game and lots of laughs.

Happy Bank Holiday and best wishes to the Duke and Dutchess of Cambridge.

Jon

Bay of Pigs April 2011

Here they come.

Jeepers Tanks !

Look Bulldogs

CRA High Tide

Whilst the rest of the club lazed about in the Sudan, Chas and I took a trip to the island of Cuba.

Luckily the Adder had knocked up a few hundred troops in his lunch hour, so we decided to re-enact the Bay of Pigs using FOW rules and the Vietnam supplement.

Leading my intrepid counter revolutionaries were CLA paratroopers who had established themselves in a village near the beach.

It wasn't long before some CRA militia came into view and a fierce firefight started, with the paras withdrawing to the other side of the village. A platoon of T 34's consolidated the gains for the CRA, as a lone T 41 Bulldog shot it out with them. Three versus one is not good odds and it was soon burning.

With both sides receiving reinforcements things stabilised in the village, but the T 34's broke out on their right and a vicious hand to hand battle saw bazookas and a/t grenades send them packing.

Chas was not done, as a platoon of T 54's brought the other flank under pressure. Luckily my artillery took out one and an last ditch assault into CLA infantry in a wood proved to be a step too far for Castro's men.

A good bash and the Vietnam rules played well.

Next time the Yanks can keep their Bulldog's and aircraft !

Vince

They don't like it up em in the Sudan

Hi all,

This months club meeting featured a game hosted by Nathan and took us to the Sudan in the 1880s using his lovely collection of 28mm figures. The rules were Too Fat Lardies, "They Don't Like It Up Em!" which are a card driven set and really help capture the flavour of the period.

The photo above shows the opening positions, Brits in red and the Sudanese in blue. The British punitive expedition, four units of Imperial infantry and one artillery unit (2) top left are returning to the Nile pick up point via the small village (4) in the centre. I have marked the village as Sudanese held because although to the British players it appeared to be held by Egyptian troops, it was in fact in Sudanese hands, one unit of Ansars and two artillery pieces,ready to ambush any unlucky British advance guard.

The Main British force (1) consisted of two units of Indian infantry, two units of Naval infantry, Bengal Lancers, two units of the Camel Corps, one Gardner one Gatling gun and a heavy artillery piece. These were in the process of landing before setting off to meet the raiding force.

The Sudanese hidden units were at (1) three units of light cavalry, (2) three units of Ansars, (3) four units of fanatical Fuzzies

As the British main force formed up, the Bengal Lancers set off to inspect the defences in the village, whilst the gunboat attempted to spot out trouble close to the shore.

Meanwhile our brave lads marched via hilly terrain, keen to make the safety of the village but ready for any trouble on the way.

The Egyptians in the village transformed into Ansars and opened fire with canister and rifles from the defences, stunning the Indian lancers, who were then hit by a charge from the hills to their left by Sudanese cavalry who pushed them further back.

Meanwhile the Imperial infantry became an island in a sea of screaming fanatical Mahdists, with the Highland and Coldstream Guards defending the hill at the centre of their positions.

Following the ambush at the village and the sound of mass musketry beyond, the British main force formed up and prepared to march forward to the relief of their beleaguered colleagues. Would they get there in time?

As the final shot shows there would be no force to rescue, with only a few Imperial troops left making a desperate bid to reach the main force. The Sudanese turned to face the new enemy in support of their village garrison. That was where our game ended.

Thank you to Nathan for a great scenario and fun game.

Winter War Finland and 12th SS Normandy next month

Jon

Firestorm Normandy Turn 2

Hi Guys,

The German General Staff (Steve) and SHAEF (Jon) met up this evening at my place to sort out turn 2 in the campaign.

The map shows what is planned for turn 2 (2oth June - 3rd July).

The tempo of events certainly favoured the Germans with only three attacks generated (must have been stormy weather).

The Allies got the drop for the first attack and went for an assault by the US Paras on the FJ in Carentan. I backed up the assault with US artillery and naval gunfire support to secure this vital link between the US beaches and the 40 points that go with it.

The Germans got the next attack and went for an assault by the 17th SS Panzergrenadiers into the flooded area of St Jours supported by the Luftwaffe (if they can get through my fighter cover), aiming to grab back 20 points and forestall any push to seal off the Cherbourg Peninsula.

The final attack went to the Allies and I opted for the "big one", 3rd Division are going for CAEN and 80 points of glory. I'm going to make it easy for them and have given them air support and and Corps Artillery in the form of the big 5.5" guns.

Interestingly Steve mentioned that if the Germans had got the final attack he would have gone for the 12th SS attacking into Arromanches, but that just a forlorn hope.

So there we are, three key battles planned for the next phase to see who will control the Normandy bridgehead.

More anon

Jon

Firestorm Normandy Campaign End Turn 1

The four beach landings have been completed and Steve and I have brought the map up to date with the exploitation, march and strategic moves. Despite the loss on Gold beach, the armour from Juno exploited into the area to secure the British landings. The US paras on Utah enabled the US armour to exploit to St Jours and strengthen the US forces around Carentan and support a US move to cut off the Cherbourg peninsula. Allied air helped keep the Cherbourg garrison bottled up and minimise the German moves against Arromanches, however SS Panthers (2nd SS) are in the Foret de Cerisey and the SS PzIV (12th SS)is opposite Arromanches in the Bretteville area. The StugIV representing 17thSS has moved to La Haye to threaten US attempts to close on Barneville. The 21st PzIV moved into Mezidon opposite the British paras in Merville. A solid Allied landing should give a good platform for expanding the bridgehead in turn 2. As a side note, I like the way Firestorm allows a campaign structure to bring together games played as time allows. The campaign started last August and the battles have been fought as stand alone games but have contributed to the map positions recorded. Jon

Firestorm Normandy, Gold Jig Green

Hi all,

The fourth and final game in the first turn of our Firestorm Normandy campaign was fought this Sunday, and featured the landing at Gold Jig Green Beach by the Hampshires. The beach is an interesting scenario because where the 1st Hants. landed marked the boundary between the 716th and 352nd Divisions, and thus meant that the British veterans came up against German veterans on one side of the defences, and reluctant Ost troops on the other (see map and orbats for details)

The British objective on this beach was to penetrate the defences and wheel to their right, taking the objectives (green and yellow flags) at Asnelles and Le Hamel. This reflected the original objective of 231 Brigade with their mission of securing the right flank of the Gold Beach landing to allow the 47th RM Commandos to pass through to Port en Bessin and link up with the Americans on Omaha. Below is the tabletop interpretation of our map

With a current running from right to left (facing the beach, seaward side), the Brits landed their first three infantry platoons, DDs and an AVRE troop, headed for the ramp off the beach and the sea wall next to WN36, ably garrisoned by the 441 Ost, who sadly for the Germans lost a section to the naval bombardment and remained pinned for practically the whole game.

The AVRE's closed on WN36 and started to create breaches and batter the seafront buildings, preparing the way for the infantry assault.

Meanwhile the DDs were tasked with keeping the veterans of the 352nd in the Chateau Asnelles and sanatorium complex quiet whilst the attack developed on the other end of the beach. The smoke was deployed to prevent fire from the 7.5cm bunker of WN37 raking the beach. However a continual peppering of small arms and mortar fire came in from this strongpoint.

The assault on WN36 when it came was short and bloody, with the Ost troops fighting back stubbornly, taking three groups out for the three groups they lost. The remnants were forced to withdraw shaken but unbowed.

By turn 4 the attack on WN36 was gathering momentum, but would it be able to get clear of the strongpoint and swing in on the objectives?

The German commander decided to not wait for all the reinforcements to assemble and decided to just take a section of the infantry platoon and two Marders, seen here entering Asnelles. The truck and dug in infantry mark the objective hex.

Turn 5 saw the Brits starting to assemble their units in preparation to head out across country

Infantry supported by armour, make the dash across the open fields towards the cover of the hedgerows and immediately draw fire from the Marders and 352nd infantry sections.

The attack stalls in front of Asnelles as the British attempt to bring up M10s to support the infantry and the Commandos to make a last desperate assault on Le Hamel from the beach, which ended in failure.

At game end the German veterans were securely in control of Le Hamel and Asnelles and having inflicted over 21% more casualty points than they received were declared the winners, so ending turn 1 of our campaign with the only German win.

Many thanks to Gus, Jason and Nathan for a great days wargaming, and a slightly longer game than planned due to the fact that I hadn't advanced the clock an hour in the room and thus we thought we were finishing at 6pm when it was in fact 7pm!!

Jon

Epsom Linked Campaign Game 1

This was a game I had been looking forward to playing when painting my collection of British Infantry and Waffen SS Panzer Grenadiers. The campaign was written by Gary Martin and is available on the Battlefront Website, from which you can find the orders of battle. Mission 1 represents the "Break In" attacks launched on the 26th June 1944 by the 15th Scottish Division and the particular attack by the 6th Royal Scots Fusiliers as they fought to take the village of St Manvieu. The village was held by 2 Kompanie, 26 SS Panzergrenadier Regiment and the command post of the first battalion.

The SS troops had been in almost continual action since June 7th, when they had counterattacked the beachhead established by the Canadian 3rd Infantry Division. By the time the Scott's attack took place the 12th SS Division was firmly on the defensive and had started to harden their defences with prepared positions.

This was the Scots initiation to battle after years of training in the UK. Although they were untried, they were confident and well trained in their assault tactics of "leaning in" to their supporting artillery barrage, backed up by Infantry tanks to shoot them on to the objective.

The day would prove how well that confidence was founded.

The map for the game as per Gary Martin's briefing

The table top interpretation. I decided to make some slight changes replacing some of the light woods with cornfields which were a major feature of the terrain and captured in so many photos of the battle of "Tommies" advancing with rifles at the port in waist high corn.

I also decided to change the original game design by allowing the Scots to be preceded by their rolling barrage provided by the Divisional and Corps artillery batteries. This caused the loss of three SS foot groups and a dug in PaK40.

Both sides placed an objective in the German set up area, and not unsurprisingly they were well separated to confuse the Germans as to where the attack would concentrate.

The Scots advanced rapidly into the orchards on their right flank and approached the edges of the village, while the SS were busy trying to unpin from the artillery barrage.

The Scots came up against the German wire and stopped to work on breaching it whilst exchanging desultory shooting into the village. The marker on the right indicates potential SS ambushers.

It started to become clear that this was the main assault as the lead platoon supported by Pioneers was quickly followed by two more rifle platoons, backed up by the crocodiles.

The Pioneers joined in by starting to flame the outlying houses and infiltrated into the outskirts.

Whilst the attack was going in on the British right, the HMG carriers in the centre were supporting with indirect fire into the village. This prompted retaliatory fire from the SS mortars which caused damage to several carriers.

Then the SS nebelwerfers joined in dropping a barrage into the orchards knocking out five rifle groups from two platoons and pinning the Scots attack. This also finished off the Pioneer platoon who had led the assault. The damage had been done to the German flank though, and the remains of the SS platoon there were forced out and retired. The other SS platoon started to feed reinforcements across their front to secure the objective, whilst leaving a security section to guard the German right flank.

In an effort to stop the German re-alignment, the Scots launched their reserve platoon at the German right, braving MG42s and mortars in the fields beyond.

This was where our game finished, with 8 turns completed and the fighting still very much in full swing. However with slightly under half of the SS company destroyed and only about 25% casualties of the Scots hors de combat, the battle looked to be heading to a historical win for the Brits. However as in the actual action the Scotts had been fought to a evening battle amid the flaming ruins of St Manvieu, where the follow up units of 11th Armoured Division would become embroiled in the mopping up next day. But that's another game!

Thanks to Malc, Jason Nathan and Steve M for fun game with lots of swings of fortune from one side to the other. The best bit was telling Nathan that he only had to avoid getting a 1 on a D12 when taking a morale check for his SS boys. Although I couldn't see the die, his face said it all. Don't take up poker Nathan!!!

Hill 112 next

Jon