Counterattack on the Hauptkampflinie, June 26th, 16:00

 After successfully resisting the British advance at St Nicholas farm, the Germans counterattack towards the Hauptkampflinie. If it can be retaken it is a serious blow to the British.

The view from the British side. A quite familiar view...

And the view from "the other side of the hill".

This is the 9th battle in our Operation Martlet campaign. The British start the battle in serious disorder, a large part of the platoon scattered including both senior leaders. The defence will basically be up to the support units. The Germans are in much better condition and morale is very high.

Forces

British platoon

Lt Featherstone, Plt Sgt Yates, Cpl Bath and 8 men are either scattered or wounded and miss the battle, and 7 men have either been killed or taken prisoner, so the platoon is much reduced.
  • Light Mortar, 2 men
  • PIAT, 2 men
  • Section 1, Cpl Barker, 3 man Bren team, 6 man rifle team
  • Section 2, Cpl Grant, 3 man Bren team

Opinion

  • CO's opinion:  -1.
  • Own opinion: Sad.
  • Men's Opinion: -7. 
Lt Featherstone now has the nickname "Dangerous". He has a reduced command range of 6", and the force has a -2 to the Force Morale roll.

British Support (20)

The British decide to take a Sherman platoon as support. Three tanks will make one a Senior Leader so that not all '4' rolls on the command dice are wasted, and an Adjutant will remove the need to roll 4+ to deploy.
  • Sherman (6)
  • Sherman (6)
  • Sherman Firefly (7)
  • Adjutant (1)

German platoon

The platoon is short two men, but has 10 riflemen extra as support choices. This lets Frey's and Wegner's squads deploy with four extra men and Schneider's to deploy at normal strength.
  • Obersturmführer Dr Otto Hahn, Senior Leader, SMG
  • Unterscharfürer Frey, two 5-man MG teams, 2 panzerfausts
  • Unterscharfürer Schneider, two 3-man MG teams,
  • Scharfürer Wegner, two 5-man MG teams, 1 panzerfaust1
  • Scharführer Lange, Panzer IV

    Opinion

    • CO's opinion: +4
    • Own opinion: Merry
    • Men's opinion: +4

    German support (13)

    • Mortar observer (4)
    • Five man rifle team (3)
    • Five man rifle team (3)
    • Senior leader (2)
    • Adjutant (1)

    Patrol phase and Jump Off Points

    Top down view of the battlefield with Jump Off Points marked. 
    Once again the fighting looks like it will center around the formal garden.

    The Battle

    Both the British and the Germans start with Force Morale 8.

    Early game

    Germans start by deploying a scout team from Schneider's squad.

    Lange's Panzer takes a cautious approach. 

    The Scouts move forward tactically while Scharführer Frey's squad watches over them.

    Lange moves forward.

    A German mortar observer is suspected to be in the upper floor of the Chateau. The Adjutant directs the Light Mortar to saturate the inner courtyard with smoke to prevent it from observing fire. Nervous and demoralised, the crewmen fail their aim and the smoke scatters to the left. 

    The German observer wastes no time and calls a bombardment at once.

    The Light Mortar crew are pinned but otherwise fine. So far.

    Mid game

    The scouts lead the way and Scharführer Frey's squad follows, throwing smoke to obscure vs any flanking fire from the other side of the road, should the British deploy there.

    The squads grab the forward British JOP while Scharführer Frey's squad rush forward behind them.
    Scharführer Wegner's squad deploy and provides covering fire to further reduce the threat from any British troops that might be hiding behind the hedge.

    A Sherman has arrived but is disoriented by the mortar bombardment and can not fire effectively on the Germans.

    Late game

    Two Shermans (one a Firefly) arrive and prepare for the eventual ending of the mortar bombardment.

    The Panzer is also prepared...

    Three Shermans now, clumsily trying to maneuver among the smoke and explosions.
    (we allow tanks to move 1D6" in a mortar barrage)

    The Germans play a CoC dice, ending the turn and removing the overwatch from the Shermans.

    The Panzer hits the platoon leader's tank, knocking it out.

    The scout team charges the light mortar form behind. The light mortar has taken one casualty and fails to do anything meaningful in defence.

    To panzerfausts are fired from Scharführer Frey's squad. They both hit one Sherman each. 
    Above is pictured one of the "Strike vs Armour" rolls. 11 faust dice , 6 successes. 6 armour dive, zero successes. Life can be hard for tankers in Normandy...

    British rout

    With this the British morale crashes and they withdraw. The Germans retake the Hauptkampflinie with no losses.

    Post Battle

    Another disaster for the British. Only two casualties though, one permanent and one missing the next game. But losing valuable time and territory is a severe blow.

    British

    Lt Featherstone gets a talking to without coffee which further reduces his mood. He obviously thinks it is the Adjutant who is to blame for the debacle. His orders are now to push on regardless, no more bumbling about.

    Losses

    • 1 man KIA
    • 1 man WIA

    Opinion

    • CO's opinion: Reduced from -1 to -2.
    • Own opinion: Reduced from Sad to Confused.
    • Men's Opinion: Remains -7. 
    The combination of the CO being Confused and the men feeling he is a butcher means a -3 to the Force Morale roll next battle. Mutiny isn't near, but it is not that far away either...

    German

    Obersturmbanführer Hahn undoubtedly hums the chorus from "The Producers" after this battle. Unterscharführer Frey is promoted to Scharführer on the spot by Hahn for his squads calmness in despatching the two Shermans. Extra cigarette rations all around!

    Losses

    None. 
    Well, one armour piercing shell from the Panzer IV and two panzerfausts where spent. And the scout teams bayonets needed some cleaning. 

    Opinion

    • CO's opinion: Improved from +4 to +6
    • Own opinion: Unchanged at Merry
    • Men's opinion: Improved from +4 to +5

    Comments

    1. TobbanAugust 5, 2022 at 12:45 AM

      Hårt för Britterna.. Men kul att se lite Shermaner.. :)

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. StaffanAugust 8, 2022 at 5:15 PM

        Ja, jag hade chans att köra tre så då tog jag den. Sedan gick det som det gick...

        Delete
    2. LaffeAugust 5, 2022 at 5:30 PM

      That was grim. Reminds me of accounts from Normandy where experienced tank commanders complain about having to work with relatively inexperienced infantry commanders. The problem was that the tanks were subordinate to the infantry and often sent ahead of the foot sloggers that hogged cover and waited for the tanks to clear out the enemy. Many Shermans were lost to panzerfausts this way.

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. StaffanAugust 8, 2022 at 5:16 PM

        Wow, 10/10 for historical accuracy in this battle in other words!

        Delete

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