2nd Probe into Fontenay, June 25th, 08:00

What nasty surprises could Jerry have in store for us this time.... Only time will tell.

This is the second battle in our Operation Martlet campaign. The British failed at the first attempt. 

Once again the mission is Probe with the British as attacker. The British win if they can exit a team of the German board edge. The special rules, including the morning mist, are still in effect as described in the previous post.

The British plan

The plan is still to take a cautions approach, perhaps even more cautious this time. The objective is not to win necessarily, but take few losses and maybe cause some losses to the Germans or even advance a JOP. Orders are to withdraw if things start looking like they can go bad. Don’t lose men or JOPs and try to get the men’s opinion to improve by not taking casualties.

Forces

British platoon

The British platoon took some losses and enter battle with the following:

• Lt Stuart
• Plt Sgt Scott
• Lt Mortar
• Piat
• Section 2, Cpl Brown, full strength
• Section 3 , Cpl Smith, less 3 rifles

Opinion

• Commander's opinion: -1
• Own opinion: Relaxed
• Men's opinion: -3 causing a -1 modifier to Force Morale dice roll

British Support (14 points)

• AVRE (7)
• Extra rifle section (4)
• Light Mortar (2)
• Medic (1)

German platoon

The German platoon starts at full strength.

Opinion

• Commander's opinion: +1
• Own opinion: Cheerful
• Men's opinion: +2

German Support (6 points)

• AFV trench
• Sdkfz 251 halftrack
• Adjutant
• Extra panzerfaust

Jump Off Points

These are unchanged since the previous battle. 

British and German Jump Off Points

The Battle

The British start the battle with Force Morale 9, the Germans with Force Morale 11.

Early game

The Germans have better morale and immediately deploy on overwatch in the old trenches, not bothered by the pre game bombardment, and threaten the British JOPs with enfilading fire. This is no surprise to the British, who immediately deploy a light mortar that fires smoke on the positions to negate the threat.

Germans deploy in the old trenches (black markers) and become the target of smoke from the light mortar.

The light mortar has deployed as cautiously as possible to keep the German trenches smoked.

The British make repeated attempts at deploying, but most troops (including the AVRE and three rifle sections) have trouble finding their way in the mist.

Mid game

The Panzer IV is not bothered by the British bombardment, deploys by the road and goes on overwatch.  The Germans end the turn with a CoC dice, the smoke clears and the light mortar crew receive some serious MG42 fire from the German trenches. One man down, lots of shock and they (quite reasonably) choose to break and flee of the field of battle.

    

The Panzer IV comes in next to the road.

The smoke clears. The light mortar takes fire, is broken and routs.

Late game

A German squad in a Sdkfz 251 halftrack deploy in an AFV entrenchment while the Pz IV moves forward slowly, gun on overwatch.

The Germans are obviously preparing a mechanised counterattack...

The Germans dominate the battlefield once again, and the British let discretion be the better part of valour.

British withdrawal

The British calls a withdrawal rather than risking the Jump Off Points. The British have Force Morale 8 and the German 11.

During the first turn 4 out of 5 deployment attempts at 4+ failed for the British, while 2 out of 3 attempts at 5+ for the Germans was successful. Based on that the results where kind of acceptable for the British. Next time they will attack without the morning mist causing problems.

Post Battle

British

Losses

One man in the light mortar team was wounded, missing the next battle. All the wounded (3 men) and Cpl Wilson (who was dispersed in the withdrawal last time) will return for the next battle.

Opinion

• CO's Opinion: Reduced by -2 (ouch) to -3, reducing support points by one next battle.
• Own Opinion: Worried. Probably an appropriate assessment.
• Men's Opinion: Improved by +1 to -2, removing the negative force morale dice modifier next battle.

Lessons implemented

When deployment goes really bad, don't force the issue. Withdraw before losses mount and try again.

Germans

Losses

No losses.

Opinion

• CO's Opinion: Improved +1 to +2.
• Own Opinion: Assured.
• Men's Opinion: Improved +1 to +3.