Of course when it doesn't work things are a little more grim, particularly for the participants. Which is the scenario which faced German oberleutnant Werner Hedderich one breezy day in May 1940. He and a bunch of like minded colleagues had been crammed into light aircraft and tasked with seizing a bridge ahead of the main German advance to enable the panzers a swift path over the river Moselle.
Which explains why Hedderich and a small group of men are sitting in hastily prepared foxholes around a bridge in France gazing uneasily at a gathering French counterattack force and wondering where the hell the rest of the German army has got to. Not too far away over a thousand German tanks are gunning their engines and preparing to introduce the French to the concept of Blitzkrieg. However the tanks of most interest to Hedderich are the three French tanks which are right here, right now. This is ASL scenario A104 "In Front of the Storm". Here I shall command the cream of the French army (ie they're not actually French, they're North African spahis) and three hotchkiss tanks attempting to recapture the bridge from an increasingly nervous German defender.
To mount this counter attack I have three H35 tanks (small, slow but hard to kill) plus six squads of elite French infantry and another six squads of first line troops all prepared to die for the motherland. Or to be totally accurate, prepared to die for their colonial overlord's motherland. Three officers, a pair of medium machine guns and three light machine guns round out my forces. My opponent, Jeremy Dibben has four elite German squads, four first line squads, a medium machine gun, a couple of light machine guns, an antitank rifle and a 37mm antitank gun. To bolster his defences he has mines (both anti personnel and anti tank), a road block which will effectively stop the tanks from charging wherever they like and some foxholes to hide in.
To win the French have to capture the bridge, that is, both bridge hexes and the approach hexes on each bank of the river (four in all). Jeremy set up the bulk of his forces behind the river with the roadblock in the last of the four hexes to be seized. His best officer commanded the medium machine gun squad positioned to fire directly down the bridge (nasty), a squad and light machine gun nestled in a foxhole with the roadblock, another squad and light machine gun set up in a foxhole adjacent and the antitank gun set up a level higher and directly behind the medium machine gun crew so it could similarly fire straight down the bridge. It was supported by a squad with the antitank rifle. On my side of the river Jeremy had garrisoned some village buildings with the remainder of his force to delay me and inflict some casualties before I arrived at my objective.
I divided my attackers into two major forces. I felt Jeremy was light on defences in the north (left) flank so I detailed my tanks and a group of elite infantry (with the medium machine guns) to come in from that direction while the remainder of my force ploughed through the woods and orchards in the west, slow going but difficult to hit. The picture below shows the set up.
First into action on my side was a modest half squad (or bullet soak as I refer to them) who charged boldly forward to persuade Jeremy to drop concealment on his unit in the north. Jeremy obligingly did so and with that out of the way I armoured assaulted forward heading for his next defended position in building F3. Admittedly I got a little eager and drove right next door to it. Jeremy fired at my troops hiding behind the tank and killed an officer outright and broke an accompanying half squad. A full squad survived and plunged into close combat while a squad and a half did the same with the half squad I had bypassed. Meanwhile Jeremy's sniper (who had an awesome game) broke one of the other squads following the tanks. By comparison the force from the west had a slow but bullet free progress protected by woods and orchards.
In the next turn I had a decision to make. My squad and a half had killed his half squad in CC but in building F3 the melee raged. I had another squad and a medium machine gun right outside. Saying a quick prayer to the dice gods I fired into the melee with a 16 firepower shot. My elite troops shrugged off the firepower, his broke. I then butchered them as they attempted to flee the melee. With the north flank taken my tanks trundled forward to the cluster of houses where the remainder of his delaying force was to be found providing much needed cover for my surviving infantry to close the gap as well.
While my tanks were engaged in this vigorous slothkrieg my western forces had closed up (losing only one squad to an idiotic attempt to cross a road in full view of the enemy) and had built up a powerful infantry force. Which was good because the tanks were proving that 37mm guns were not terribly effective at winkling infantry out of stone buildings. I hopped another squad under a tank and advanced into close combat with one of his squads but the real break came when a 16+3 shot from my infantry in the west sent a neighbouring squad berserk. With rage in their eyes they attempted to charge into the melee only to be carved to bits by one of my tanks which found infantry running in the open a much easier target to hit.
As you can see above my tanks are trying to give support to the melee raging in the nearby building. His berserk squad is about to die horribly while some of my other infantry has sidled down to snatch the forest locations near the bridge. You can also see the menacing collection of firepower Jeremy has waiting for me should I attempt such a thing.
This is pretty much how things stood for a couple of turns. I gradually winkled his remaining west bank defenders out of their positions and readied myself for the thrust to the bridge. Unfortunately my attempts to seize the aforementioned forest hexes had resulted in hideous casualties as Jeremy's force (hiding in foxholes) managed to shoot up pretty much anything that went in. At one point I had two unmanned medium machine guns in the location with their owners whimpering in the rear. In addition to this his sniper was shooting anything that moved in backplay. Fortunately it was a little removed from the main action.
Still with his delaying troops out of the way it was time to hit the bridge. This is where the tanks come into their own. The bridge, covered by a medium machine gun, an antitank gun and whatever infantry firepower Jeremy can muster, is an absolute deathtrap for infantry. There's only one way of getting across; roll the tanks up onto the bridge and provide a little metal cover for the following troops. Yes, there's an antitank gun waiting for you to do just that but you really have no choice. The roadblock at the end means the tanks can't take all four locations themselves, for that last one the infantry will have to take its chances.
With a creak and a lurch my tanks lumbered forward into the full view of his antitank gun sighted to fire down the road. It fired, it hit but the shell bounced off the tough armour (the French really did know how to armour tanks). Nose to tail my tanks occupied the bridge controlling three of the four hexes I needed. From the woods to the north a half squad (sole survivor of another failed attempt to build up a firebase in the woods) advanced onto the bridge.
Two turns remained and I was the recipient of two pieces of luck. With more targets Jeremy had to divide his fire and I finally managed to get a pair of squads with the mmgs in the woods hex next to the bridge. Next turn a 16+2 shot smashed his forces in the foxhole next to the roadblock. My half squad on the bridge inched forward a little more until the final victory location was just two hexes away.
In the meantime his antitank gun had destroyed one of my tanks and his antitank rifle had immobilised another (although the crew remained to gallantly, if ineffectively, man their weapons). The last turn came and I gained my second piece of luck. My surviving intact tank gained a lucky hit which shattered his forces at the roadblock. If I could just advance a unit in there the game would be mine. Of course there was still a medium machine gun and an antitank gun (which could also kill infantry) looking straight down the road. Nevertheless the door was slightly ajar. I had a halfsquad on the bridge two hexes from the roadblock. An assault move would bring it next door ready to advance in, if it survived. Firstly I conducted a little fire drawing exercise. Two squads boldly moved onto the bridge to support their fellows. The medium machine gun spoke and they were "tumbled back in bloody ruin" to coin a phrase. Jeremy took the opportunity to lay a firelane down the bridge but what that meant was that my halfsquad would now advance against residual firepower of 2 with a modifier for the tank rather than firepower of four with a negative bonus for his leader.
Taking their courage in their hands the men of the halfsquad inched forward. The firelane didn't hurt them. Jeremy then threw all the firepower he had left at them. The antitank rifle did nothing. The antitank gun gained a pin task check which my guys passed with the maximum possible roll. His last squad fired and gained another pin check. With a sweaty hand I rolled, and passed. In the last phase of the last turn I had done just sufficient to achieve victory. Below, simply for the heck of it is a picture of the final scene with my triumphant halfsquad doing a a victory dance on the roadblock. Much thanks to Jeremy for the game who was looking like a winner pretty much up to the end and multiple curses to his sniper who added liberally to my grey hairs.
Yay!!! Tres Bien. Vive les francais courageux
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ReplyDeleteFantastic game, and great AAR as per normal
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