The Tears of Vercours

I wrote this some time ago and never posted it, I'm not entirely sure why. The campaign that it refers to can be found here. In fact, I've just added a page with the battle reports, which you'll find above. 

The flag of the Free Republic of Vercours

The girls and boys came over to play last week, which was good fun. Mrs Kinch and her cronies retired to the parlour bearing crotchet and bottles of wine, while we fought over the Vercours Campaign. Memoir '44 unlike many wargames in the English speaking world has a very strong connection to France, mainly as it was part comissioned by the Historical Section of the French Army as part of the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

A meeting of Maquis

We played the Vercours Campaign because it was the game that I could do in 1/72. I have an extensive Second World War collection in 6mm, but it doesn't have the same feel. There is something to be said for 6mm, it's a fine scale and played on a six foot by four foot board it would certainly give a closer figure scale to ground scale look, but I like playing with bigger toy soldiers, so 1/72 is the thing.

Maquis being executed by the German army

I enjoy wargaming. I like playing with toy soldiers - it's a wonderful hobby and I have made many firm and lasting friendships through it.  It does make one pause for thought on occasion - when you consider the reality that the game represents. There is a moment in the series, "The World at War" powerfully narrated by Sir Laurence Olivier, where he describes some footage of German prisoners of war struggling to gather potatoes thrown from a truck. I can't find the footage or the quotation online, but he muses how long it will be before children forget that is a real man and a real potato.

I don't think there are any great moral struggles to be had in wargaming, there are things that are not done of course, but that applied to all aspects of life. There is too much evil in the world to worry about what games men play in safety and comfort. There is a point to it I suppose, as a thought experiment - but I'd it's about as morally dangerous as a performance of Titus Andronicus.

I rather like David Mitchell's take on the whole thing.

Rape & Pillage

The Maquis are interesting though, often ill organised, always poorly armed, they possessed a courage that was beyond description. Though I disagree with him, often violently, I have always respected Albert Camus's great novel of resistance, "The Plague." It's a curious book, written about men working to defeat an outbreak of bubonic plague in an Algerian city, though it is often cast as an allegory of the French resistance.

Curiously for a book by an avowed atheist, I find myself thinking of it when I'm having difficulty living a Christian life.  It recognises that all lives end in defeat. That struggle is necessary and worthwhile despite the fact that it is boring and ultimately futile.  I reread the passages regarding the death of Father Paneloux on occasion, but I've always had a soft spot for this passage.

"What's true of all the evils in the world is true of the plague as well. It helps men to rise above themselves. All the same, when you see the misery it brings, you'd need to be a madman, or a coward, or stone blind, to give in tamely to the plague."

"Paneloux is a man of learning, a scholar. He hasn't come in contact with death; that's why he can speak with such assurance of the truth-with a capital T. But every country priest who visits his parishioners and has heard a man gasping for breath on his deathbed thinks as I do. He'd try to relieve human suffering before trying to point out its goodness."

"Tarrou nodded. 'Yes. But your victories will never be lasting; that's all.' Rieux's face darkened. 'Yes, I know that. But it's no reason for giving up the struggle.'"

"I've seen enough people who die for an idea. I don't believe in heroism; I know it's easy and I've learnt it can be murderous. What interests me is living and dying for what one loves."

"There's no question of heroism in all this. It's a matter of common decency. That's an idea which may make some people smile, but the only means of fighting a plague is – common decency."

I suppose that is what I think of when I think of the French Resistance. They were vicious enough in their turn - but I suppose it is easy to say that in warmth and comfort with a full belly.

The fact remains they were a victory for decency.

The Vercours Campaign - Part Three - Massacre at Vassieux-en-Vercors

German Paratroopers landing at Vassieux-en-Vercors

From the scenario description: 

"On July 20th, 1944, following several weeks of troops build-up, the Germans launched their attack on the newly proclaimed "Free Republic of Vercors". The next morning, the German 157.Reserve-Division, bolstered with Ukrainian troops from Eastern battalions, completely finished surrounding the Vercors Plateau, trapping the French Resistance in. By early morning, twenty gliders landed in the vicinity of Vassieux-en-Vercors, on a makeshift landing strip the Resistance was busy finishing. They did not contain the allied reinforcements the maquisards had hoped for though. Instead, SS troops stormed out of these gliders to seize Vassieux and the neighboring hamlets of La Mure, Jossaulx and Le Château, indiscriminately killing all they met - French Resistance and local inhabitants alike. Late in the day, French Resistance companies, coming to the rescue from other parts of the Plateau, attempted to encircle the enemy and wipe him out in a counter-attack, but failed due to a lack of heavy armament against the now well-entrenched SS troops.

The stage is set, the battle lines are drawn, and you are in command. The rest is history."

Hoping to nip the German reinforcements in the bud - Masquisards move from cover to hit the exposed Paratroopers

As a result of the previous victories in the game, the Germans were looking pretty bullish and got a second wave of reinforcements - a paradrop of two units. Things were looking grim for the Maquis, who were going to have to strike hard and early to stave of a German victory.

Maquis converge on the glider borne troops, causing several casualties

Mr E takes some further casualties as the paratroopers huddle in the wood waiting for backup

A lone Maquisard opens up on a weakened German unit

Reinforcements arrive

In normal Memoir '44, parachute drops are normally resolved by dropping an appropriate number of plastic soldiers from a height of about twelve inches. This led to some problems as I didn't fancy dropping my figures on the table. We also needed to figure out roughly how high would be appropriate. A standard Memoir board is two feet wide, so we tripled the distance for the big board and substituted corks for toy soldiers. Both German paradrops landed safely. 

It's getting rather lonely out here

The limited German counter-attack that followed the Maquis's attempt to wipe them out as soon as they hit the ground was beginning to bite. A lone Maquis attempted to do for the bloodied German glider troops, he failed to do so and when they shot back.

The result was telling...

With the initial French onslaught driven back, the SS start to consolidate their position

SS Obersturmbannführer Mr E looks over the bodies of his slain troopers and swears terrible vengence, SS Standartenführer Creanor seems less concerned. 

Further French troops move up to contest the landing strip

Exchanging fire with the resurgent Germans

The SS troops consolidate around the farm. Things are looking very grim for the Resistance as the Boche has chalked up a considerable lead and were now ensconced where we would have to attack to dig them out.

Marianne was not having the best of days.

En avant!

Braver then perhaps was wise, the partisans boiled out of the woods. With the vile Boche two points ahead, our best hope was to pick on their two weakened units in the hope of knocking them out. This sadly, did not go well.

Though you die La Resistance lives on

With the partisans out in the open and our high stakes gambit a bust - the SS counterattack was swift and merciless. It was a crushing defeat, two victory points to five and the end of the campaign. There were actually two further scenarios to be played, but we worked out that if the French scored maximum points in both the scenarios to follow and the German scored none - the French could scrape a draw. At that point we thought it best to throw in the towel.

It was interesting to play a campaign in an evening and I think once I have the troops, I would enjoy playing one of the short campaigns from the two campaign books. Sadly, the French Resistance are a gamblers army and very prone to runs of luck, both bad and good, and we found it very hard to come back from our initial defeat. Well done to Mr E and General Creanor, they seized their opportunities when they presented themselves and extracted the maximum possible gain from them.

The Vercours Campaign - Part Two - The Battle of Saint Nizier- Battle of Saint-Nizier

As a result of the last battle, the German player recieved additional reinforcements, in the shape of a tank unit. In Memoir '44, a tank unit has three models (i.e. it can take three hits before it is removed from play) As we play more games of Memoir '44 to 1/.72 scale figures, I anticipate using single tanks either with shell bursts or tank rider to track casualties, but for this game I went ahead and put three pieces down. The Panzer I is from Matchbox, painted about a lifetime ago, the staff car is resin (possibly from Frontline) and the crewman checking his watch is from SHQ or possibly Battlefield.

This was the second scenario in the campaign  and the briefing was as follows:

"With its cliffs, steep slopes and limited access points, the Vercors plateau is a natural and easily defended fortress. Familiar with the terrain, the heads of the French Resistance immediately saw its value as a defensive bastion deep within occupied France. Soon enough, word spread and a few thousand
young French men and women began to arrive - all eager to take arms against the occupier. Unfortunately, the Germans had also gotten wind of the growing resistance there. On June 13, 1944, a German battalion moved into the gap near Saint-Nizier, before running into stiff resistance from the maquis outposts
and withdrawing with heavy losses. Determined to flush the place out, the Germans were back in force two days later however. This time, they broke through, forcing the maquisards to withdraw. The road to Saint-Nizier was now open; soon the Germans seized it, burning the village to the ground in retaliation for
their losses."

Because of the way the rules work, large ridges and hills only have their edges marked in Memoir '44 scenarios, but I got the bit between my teeth when we were putting this one together. I pulled out every hill that I had and put them all together, they were almost enough to fill up the whole plateau. From a rules point of view it didn't make a lot of differance and I suppose I could have just put books under the cloth. Still I think my set up looks rather well.

The German troops start mortaring the Resistants at the road block, note the dust cloud raised by the falling mortar shell

As you can tell this setup was a bit of ramshackle sort of effort. I used some pieces of black cloth as roads, I also experimented with using cat litter as a road, that was actually quite successful - I don't think I'll be using the fabric again.

German troops begin by moving up on the French left. Donogh and I had decided that we were going to try to contest the edge of the plateau, then fall back in attempt to string out the advancing Krauts and then counter attack the isolated ones.

Our counter attack didn't really work as we completely failed to even slow the lockstep advance of Mr E & General Creanor's grey legions.

True to form we skedaddle in the hope that we can cause the Germans to get strung out a little. As you can see the German infantry on the left have taken some casualties.

But they wipe out our left most partisan group in retaliation. Things are looking very grim.

The survivors scurry for the safety of the buildings, pursued by German infantry.

The German infantry have outflanked the partisan roadblock and the Panzer I starts to roll down the road. A joke anywhere else in 1944, the "leetle tank" is a major problem for the French.

Long range fire manages to shake the crew of the Panzer and thin out the advancing tide of grey, but it may be too little too late.

The Panzer moves swiftly past the French defences, turning to attack them in the rear.

Wiping out one group of partisans, the Panzer preparing to riddle the remaining defenders, while the infantry move forward.

A lone Masquisard with a  .45 faces the steel beast. If the last reel of "Saving Private Ryan" is to be believed, this might actually work...

Spurred on by their comrades heroism, the Masquisards break cover and surround the German vanguard.

They open up with everything they have, but one Landser manages to hang on.

However, the tank crew have decided that discretion is the better part of valour...

Mr E and General Creanor discuss what they will do. Donogh & I were feeling somewhat miffed about the tank having escaped.

However pride comes before a fall and the panzer rolled up onto the hill only to be greeted by a hail of petrol bombs.

The demise of the German panzer gave the Resistance fighters new hope. Their commandant rallies the troops...

...but over on the French left, things are still bleak as two weakened German units corner the shell shocked Maquis.

Sadly high spirits and gallic pride don't seem to be cutting the mustard today. The German infantry move forward, not confidently, the Frenchmen have taken a harvest of them certainly, but with purpose.

One of the unusual things about this scenario is that the French must lose almost all of their units before losing. I think this represents the sheer desperation of their situation. With only three units left on the board, it would take a miracle for Donogh and I to pull this out of the bag, even having left the German unit on the left teetering on one base.

But before miracles have time to manifest themselves, the Landser on the left close in and destroy the remaining Masquisards. The survivors on the right pack up and slink into the night.  Another defeat (5-1, if memory serves) for the Resistance, which is a pity as it was a closer game than that would make it appear. Some dismal dice rolling early on did serious damage to our chances of success and the extra German tank unit did considerable execution. I'm sure Donogh, Mr E and General Creanor will add their own observations.

This campaign is not going well.

Vercours Campaign - Part One - The Maquis of Malleval

I promised to write up our Vercours campaign games quite a while ago and never really got around to it.

This was the first of my Memoir '44 scenarios and the first time I really got a chance to mess around with the beautiful mountain terrain that Capability Savage built for me. I think it looks rather well.

I was going to write up a little something about the scenario, but I think the notes from the game cover it rather well.

"The Maquis of Malleval, a rural guerrilla band of the French Resistance, was composed of 50 men under the command of Lieutenant Eysseric (code name "Durand"). The group's base of operations was the isolated village of Malleval-en-Vercors, on the western buttress of the Vercors plateau. On January 29, 1944, a German battalion dispatched from Grenoble, crossed the gorges of the Nan river to encircle the village. Alerted too late, the maquisards were surrounded;
22 were killed in combat and another 7 inhabitants thrown to the fire in a barn while the village burned to the ground. This tragic episode was an ominous prelude to the battle of Vercors that would soon engulf the region in flames. The stage is set, the battle lines are drawn, and you are in command. The rest is history."

Donogh's gallant Maquis hiding out in the church, sadly their lookout is asleep

The German scouts advance

More Maquis move about. The trick I find with the French Resistance is to make the most of your movement, mass your forces and try to wipe out individual units by hitting them in a short sharp series of blows.

And then run away again.

The Germans creep forward on the left.

A German mortar unit fires on Maquis on the other side of the hill.  In Memoir '44, infantry mortars are just infantry units that can't move and fire, but don't require line of sight. It's a very small tweet, but its astonishing how much it alters the game.

Gaston! The Maquis take casualties in a barrage of 8cm shells.

The Maquisards start to retreat up the valley, things are looking grim.

The German advanced continues on the left, pressing the Maquis. The key issue here is that the Maquis are being crowded onto the back line by the Germans, but they haven't managed to manoeuvre sufficiently to isolate and wipe out any German units. This is very bad.

The German advance continues.

The Maquis are driven out of the town and up the valley sides

Lacking any other options (the cards were not kind), Donogh digs in as best he can. As I don't have any Second World War era field works, so we substituted abatis from my Napoleonic collection. These French fellows are quite traditional in some ways.

But sadly, traditional and Gallic high spirits, are no match for a fusillade of 7.92mm. The Germans move into the village and annihilate the defenders.

Colin maneuvres his dastardly Krauts forward, penning the Maquis of the slaughter.

And as it was on the left, so it continued in the centre with German forces (including a rather natty Britannia motorcycle combination) pinning the Maquis in the local church.

Colin drives on, outflanking the shell shocked Maquis. 

Meanwhile the battered survivors of the Maquis on the left try to make a break for it. 

But they're caught by Colin's infantry

And it all ends rather badly for Francois...

It was a pretty grim game for the poor old Maquis. They weren't helped by a poor card draw and a German player who kept his eye on the main objective, getting forward and denying the Maquis room.

My apologies for the recent quietness on the blog. I actually started Joy & Forgetfulness as a means of ensuring at even when I was at a low ebb, I did some writing. It's developed into something rather more than that of course, but it does take a back seat when I have "proper" work to do. Also the War Room is in the throes of being refloored, so there's damn little gaming being done. I hope that this won't persist for too long and I do have a number of posts cached already, we shall see.

We have to see how the Vercours campaign turns out first