This is a battle report I put together for a Flames of War game run in July as part of the Overlord Campaign run by
WWPD.
In
the early hours of 6th June 1944, men of the 9th
Parachute Battalion of the 6th Airborne Division assaulted a German
gun battery near the town of Gonneville-sur-Merville in Normandy. Reconnaissance
indicated that the gun battery, positioned about eight miles inland from the
sea, mounted four guns of at least 15” size which were capable of firing on
Sword Beach. The paras were sent in to silence the guns before the invasion
began.
The
defences of the Merville Battery were formidable. Four guns set in concrete
casemates were installed in an open area surrounded by a ring of minefields and
barbed wire. A substantial anti-tank ditch covered the perimeter facing towards
the beaches and strategically placed machine-gun nests covered all approaches.
The battery was provided with 20mm anti-aircraft guns and was manned by a unit
of grenadiers from 352. Infanteriedivision whose force included numerous heavy
machine guns. More grenadiers based a short distance away could provide further
reinforcements if necessary.
Appreciating
the strength of the defensive position, an attack was planned in force. Three platoons
of paratroopers with supporting pioneers and heavy weapons were complemented by
a unit of glider-borne engineers equipped wth the tools and explosives necessary
to destroy the guns.
Colonel
Otway’s paratroopers were to land at drop zone “V” in fields just over a mile
to the east of the battery. and rendezvous
near the village of Gonneville-sur-Merville, from where they would lauch their
assault. Heavy bombing of the battery by RAF Lancasters, to soften up the objective, would prepare the way. A reconnaissance team dropped with the
paratroopers would identify the best route to attack. Under cover of darkess, the
paratroopers would overwhelm the outlying machine-gun nests and then attack the
battery. At the same time, more engineers would arrive by glider, performing a
coup de main assault within the battery itself. With surprise on their side,
the attackers would quickly overrun the defences and destroy the guns. The
position would be held until 07:50 when the paratroopers would withdraw and heavy
naval bomardment of the battery would commece immediately prior to the landings
at Sword beach.
Allied:
9th Parachute battalion, 6th Airborne Division
HQ
C-in-C Otway & 2-in-C
3
platoons Paratroopers (FV)
1
platoon assault paratroops (FV)
1
parachute recon platoon (FV)
1
platoon Para Mortars (FV)
1
platoon para HMGs (FV)
Coup de Main:
1
platoon Airborne RE wth Pioneer supply jeep
1
x Horsa Glider
(approx
1750 points)
Axis:
352. Infanteriedivision
HQ
C-in-C & 2-in-C + 2 mortars
2
platoons Grenadiers (CT)
2
platoons HMGs (CT)
Delayed, Scattered Reserves
2
platoons Grenadiers in trucks (CT)
1
platoon 3 x StuG G
Defences
3 x
HMG nests
1
x quad 20mm AA flak nest
6
x minefields
6
x barbed wire
6
x trenches
3
x tank traps
(approx
1800pts)
The
terrain is shown on the hurriedly-sketched plan below:
The Scenario used the following special rules:
1.
Allies deploy within 16” of their short table
edge; Germans muse deploy within the battery perimeter.
2.
There are four objectives – these are the gun
casemates that the allies are trying to destroy. To take an objective, an
allied stand must start its turn in contact with one of the casemates, and not
move, shoot or assault that turn. At the end of the turn, that stand may make a
skill test to place charges and destroy the casemate. If they are a pioneer
stand, they may re-roll a failure. If they are a pioneer stand with a pioneer
supply vehicle within command distance, they may re-roll a second time if
necessary.
3.
German reserves are delayed and arrive by road
at the end of one of the roads as shown in the terrain plan above.
4.
The allies attack, and the game begins at night.
Roll for dawn at the beginning of the German turn 3 as normal.
5.
All defenders begin the game in prepared
positions.
6.
There is a preliminary bombardment of the
defenders by the RAF (5 to hit, 2+ firepower). Any stands lost do not count
towards or against the strength of platoons affected.
7.
Barbed wire, but not minefield, extends across
the road into the battery as a gate. Treat this exactly the same as barbed
wire.
8.
The game ends at the end of the allied turn 8
(there is no need for a German turn 8!) At this point, determine victory points
as follows:
German forces are destroyed before the start of allied turn
8 (and therefore casemates taken and battery suppressed), or all 4 objectives
are destroyed - 6:1 Allied victory
3 objectives destroyed – effect of shooting on Sword Beach
significantly reduced - 5:2 Allied victory
2 objectives destroyed – guns are able to shoot on Sword
Beach but with reduced effect - 4:3 Allied victory
1 objective destroyed – most guns are still able to shoot on
Sword Beach - 4:3 Axis victory
No objectives destroyed, but Germans have lost at least two
platoons – 5:2 Axis victory
No objectives destroyed, and Germans have lost fewer than
two platoons – 6:1 Axis victory
THE GAME
I played against my friend Al on 6th July 2013 (yes, one month late) on a table set up in the garden (it was a really nice day). We played two games, taking each side in turn to see how it went and to test the balance of the scenario.
(Just in case you didn't think we were outside. Note sausages on the barbecue in the background)
AND NOW THE BIT YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR: THE ACTUAL BATTLE REPORT
Hauptmann Knallkorper was a troubled man.
His annoying subordinate Leutnant Zieselwurst had made an official complaint
against him, because he had not recommended his promotion to battery commander
yet again. What’s more, the war hadn’t been going very well recently, there was
talk about invasion everywhere, even here in Normandy, and to top it all
yesterday’s sauerkraut must have been off – even if there hadn’t been an air
raid he could hardly have slept, he had spent most of the night in the bathroom.
It was strangely pleasant here, though. Dark and silent now the
RAF had departed. He could make out one or two new craters around the battery, and
there were some people moving around out there, but little had changed. The men
were still manning the trenches, one platoon of HMGs deployed in slit trenches
behind the main line covering the gate. Quiet as usual. A peaceful, clear summer’s
night, dry and clear in the moonlight, cooled by a light breeze from the
north-east.
“Yes?” He looked up as one of the NCOs approached.
“Sir, it’s Leutnant Ziselwurst”, the man announced. “Very unfortunate. He’s
dead. A stray bomb on the toilet block. He appears to have been the only
casualty of the air raid. A direct hit. He wouldn’t have felt anything.”
“Most regrettable”, he responded imprecisely, feigning
distress as best he could. Good thing it was still the middle of the night.
“Very bad, very bad indeed.” Ziselwurst
must have had the sauerkraut too. Given that, he would definitely have felt
something. What a way to die. “But it could have been worse.” It could have
been me.
Well, well, he thought, perhaps it isn’t so bad after all. I
wonder what the rest of the day has in store?
At the edge of the woods, Colonel Otway, who would lead the
main attack by two paratroop platoons through the minefield, checked his watch
for the last time. “Right-ho,”, he whispered, signalling his men to advance in
the darkness, “Let’s go”.
Further north, opposite the main gate, at almost exactly the
same time, Lieutenant Carruthers lowered his binoculars from his blackened face.
“Can’t see a dashed thing,” he muttered beneath his moustache, “Too bally dark.”
The chap from the recce team was making very obvious signs
at him. Mouthing something. Pointing at his wrist. Finally he got the picture. “I say, chaps,”
he announced in a low voice. “Chocks away, don’t you know”. And raising his
arm, to the relief of almost all his men, who thought he might never give the
order, he ushered his platoon and the assault paratroopers forward.
Above them all, at the same moment, silently coasting in the
darkness, a Horsa glider loaded with engineers equipped with an excessive
quantity of demolition equipment had found the landing zone. “Legs up!” the
pilot called. “Brace!” The ground loomed closer, faster, and suddenly arrived
as the glider settled perfectly between two of the casemates and scraped to a
sudden halt just short of the flak nest. Engineers laden with explosives leaped
from the cracked fuselage in preparation for the assault.
The two spearheads of infantry raced in darkness towards the
outlying bunkers. Carruthers’ men were the first to reach their target, opening
up with stens and grenades and silencing the defenders in moments. Otway’s men
had further to go and for the moment found themselves in the open.
Inside the perimeter, the engineers assaulted the flak nest and
the HMGs in foxholes beside it. With the nest destroyed, the remaining
defenders refused to counterattack and fell back before their attackers.
Consolidating,
the engineers forced the Germans out of their foxholes and took up positions
against the three closest casemates, at the same time advancing as far as
possible towards the last.
Knallkorper may have been the first to see the glider. A
huge shadow had passed over him and for a fraction of a moment he thought one
of the bombers that took Ziselwurst had come back to claim him too. Suddenly
realising the situation, and seeing the HMGs running for cover, he raised the
alert. With remarkable alertness, all the remaining defenders unpinned. The
HMGs repositioned themselves to improve their fields of fire, and as the moon
came out from behind a cloud and extended visibility, the Germans let them have
it. The engineers, concealed by night but otherwise in the open, took heavy
casualties but morale was strong, and they remained in position to set charges
on three of the casemates.
The paras pressed on with their attack Otway’s force,
running through fire from the southern bunker, overwhelmed its defenders and
moved towards a position at the perimeter less well defended than the closest
point where enemy HMGs were positioned in strength. By this time Carruthers was
at the gate, breaking down the barbed wire, but was delaying his assault so
that his mortars and machine guns could move into position to give support.
Meanwhile, within the perimeter the engineers successfully
set demolition charges on three casemates. As they exploded, the Germans
counterattacked. In a hail of bullets, all the engineers died except for their
platoon commander who, seeing a job well done and deciding the better part of
valour, sensibly surrendered.
Although three of the guns had been destroyed, the Germans
had no intention of giving up the last without a fight. Moving back to the
trenches, and setting up HMGs to cover the gate, they put down a withering fire
upon the paras, whose numbers were slowly but inexorably decreasing. As the
heavy weapons dug themselves into position, and Otway’s paras approached the
wire, the paras returned fire, though to little effect.
And then the sun rose.
Suddenly all of Knallkorper’s force could see the enemy,
most of whom were now in the open. A hail of bullets descended. One of Otway’s
platoons was destroyed by overwhelming HMG fire, and Carruthers’ assault troops
suffered similarly. The tide seemed to have turned, and the chances of this
small attacking force now breaking through the perimeter seemed slim. But it
was worth a try. With mortars dropping a heavy smokescreen over the gate, and
para HMGs giving the Germans their own back, the defenders were pinned and
Carruthers’ force assaulted through the gate. Defensive fire was heavy, but
although taking losses the paras were not forced back and for a moment they
thought they might break through. But an effective counterattack by the
defenders meant it was not to be, and they fell back in disarray.
As Otway saw his force retreating from the gate, he heard
the sound of vehicles as two platoons of German reinforcements arrived from the
north road. He then knew that the paras had achieved all that it might, and
despite not taking all the casemates, the troops landing on Sword Beach would
have less to fear thanks to this morning’s work. With a wry smile, he gave the
signal for his scattered force to disperse into the countryside, their job
done.
Despite what he had thought an optimistic start, the morning
had not turned out so well for Knallkorper. His troops may have seen off the
enemy, but three of his four guns were destroyed and his battery’s
effectiveness significantly reduced. He wasn’t going to be stopping any
invasions today. But someone was going to have to take the blame, and he really
didn’t fancy spending Christmas 1944 on the Russian Front. I wonder. Perhaps he
could give Ziselwurst that promotion after all …
Result: 5:2 Allied
Victory
