April 9th 1940

Some time in March I suddenly realised that our first club meeting would be on the 9th of April, the anniversary of the Nazi invasion of Denmark in 1940.

Having “invested” in a platoon of 28mm Danes from Great Escape Games I really didn’t want to miss the opportunity and so I put on a game based around a skirmish that took place near Hokkerup on the Jutland peninsula.

The encounter we were commemorating, the ambush of a leading German reconnaissance unit, was captured in a 1946 painting by Anna Maria Mehrn which was, in part, the inspiration for choosing this particular scenario along with a scene (likely inspired by this engagement) from the Danish movie 9. april.

The Danish army went on full alert at 13:30 on the 8th of April and were held back ready to take up positions in the event of a German invasion. A thorough reconnaissance had been made regarding defensive positions but the Danish government had given strict instructions that units were not to be deployed near the border nor was digging or other fortification to be undertaken in order to avoid provoking the Germans. Despite this the Germans crossed the border at around twenty past four on the morning of the 9th. 

Our intrepid 3rd bicycle platoon of the 2nd Company, 4th Cyclist Battalion supported by the autocannon and light machine gun sections of the 2nd platoon Afværgekompagniet (Anti-tank Company) , 2nd Battalion, Fodfolkspionerkommandoet set off from their barracks at just after four thirty and took up positions just after 5am.

They hastily erected a roadblock before sighting the armoured cars leading the German column at half past five. Lieutenant H.J. Højerslev had overall command with Second Lieutenant A. Olsen commanding the anti-tank sections.

The team manning the 20mm auto cannon was led by F Jensen accompanied Gunner Nørholt and Loader Eliasen as immortalised in the painting.

The opposition is less well documented so I had them facing two SdKfz 222 armoured cars, a motorcycle section and two more sections mounted in SdKfz 251 half-tracks supported by a Panzer II.

I used the Nuts! second edition rules from Two Hour Wargames for the game.

The encounter saw the Danish auto cannon taking out both of the armour cars and the advancing German infantry taking heavy fire. In the end the Danes were forced to withdraw but they had delayed the Germans significantly.

In the end the game lasted almost as long as the entire Danish resistance as despite the valiant defence put up by the Danish armed forces against overwhelming odds the Government surrendered at just after half past eight in the morning.

Engineers at Jametz

Lenin and I played the first game from the next campaign in the Rommel's Route to Verdun booklet from SkirmishCampaigns.

As with the previous games Lenin took the Germans, although without Rommel himself this time, and I took the French.  Unfortunately, since it has been a while since we played one of these I forgot the lessons in converting the stats to Nuts! by TwoHourWargames which, combined with me accidentally giving the German officer Rommel's stats, meant it wasn't going to be easy for les Poilus.

The German 13th Engineer Battalion, advancing with the 123rd Grenadier Regiment and elements of the 124th Infantry Regiment, were advancing to the Meuse River.  Their objective was to cross the table with their engineering equipment and supplies.  The French simply had to hold them up.

Unfortunately I also followed the deployment rules from the book and the first German section onto the table triggered fire from the first French unit which did very little.  The Germans then suppressed the French and advanced.  With the first French section taking serious casualties the advancing Germans came under fire from the second French section but took cover in some shell holes and, in the subsequent exchanges of fire the French came off worst.  As a result the Germans rushed the remaining French who surrendered.

Note to self - try to learn the lessons about not slavishly converting the stats from the book next time!

Defiant Stand, Poland 1939

Our next and final miniatures game was a chance to play with some of the 28mm Polish figures I have been basing using the Nuts! rules from Two Hour Wargames.

I used another of the Skirmish Campaigns scenarios - this time from their Poland 1939 booklet - although I changed the Poles from the Black Brigade to standard infantry (since I don't have any suitable figures for the Black Brigade - though these are now available from Gorgon Studios in the US).

Lenin took command of the Poles and I took the invading German forces.  The scenario has the German forces motorised (motorcycle combinations and trucks) but given the final terrain layout the vehicles became rather redundant after the first turn!

My first motorcycle team advanced up the road towards the crossroads but as they approached the ford they came under fire from the nearby buildings and pulled off the road.  With clear enemy activity I decided to move my trucks off the road and deploy my troops in the woods.

As I came to the edge of the woods my troops came under rifle and machine gun fire from both the houses by the crossroads and the barn.

In decided to try to get my MG teams deployed to provide covering fire to enable an assault across the open ground.  Whilst it was easy to suppress the rifle fire the machine gun was a different kettle of fish.  I had multiple attempts before their MG jammed and I was able to get a team into position; however, when the Poles cleared the jam I didn't fare too well in the subsequent fire fight.  We also had to contend with sniper fire!

After taking quite a few casualties I managed to deploy my mortar team to lay down some smoke and advanced towards the barn under the cover of that and one of my remaining MGs.

Things were going relatively well until we came under fire from an LMG in the barn and most of my men decided to withdraw to the woods.

The NCOs carried on and managed to reach the barn and throw grenades through the openings which dealt with the men inside.  Whilst I had secured one of the three buildings (my victory conditions were two) I had suffered serious casualties, particularly of my NCOs and as a result was not able to press home my attack.

My only frustration with the game (other than the minor one of not actually getting my vehicles far onto the table) was that my new Poles spent almost all their time in the buildings and so weren't very visible. As a result they don't feature in most of the photos of the game.  I will be posting some more pictures of them when I have finished basing up the remaining few.

Shoot-out in Bleid

So after our visit to Salute Lenin and I sat down to play a few games. First up was the next in the ongoing Rommel's Route to Verdun campaign, the assault on the village of Bleid.

22 August 1914, 0930 hours - the village of Bleid, about 50km northeast of Verdun

Several companies from the French 101st Infantry Regiment were holding Bleid and the areas north and south of the village.  Rommel brought his platoon up and prepared for an assault.  The focus of the early fighting was a church near the centre of the village.  The German assault teams set several buildings on fire to flush out defenders and also to create smoke to cover their advance.  The morning fog had still not totally lifted adding to the problems confronting the French defenders.

As previously Lenin took the role of Rommel and command of the German force assaulting the village (in fact the presence of Rommel is only an option for this scenario but Lenin decided he wanted the main man there).  I took command of the French defending the village.

The Germans split their forces with Rommel leading one party through the woods and up the left flank. With the remainder moving up to the first house on the right.  The fog was a real boon to them as it limited visibility.

With the first house secured the right flank group advanced on the next house up the road where they encountered their first resistance.  Although the resistance was rather limited as three of the four French soldiers in the house decided to take to their heels and join their compatriots in the adjacent property!  The remaining man fought bravely for France but was overwhelmed quickly.

Meanwhile, on the other flank, Rommel advanced from the woods and came under fire from the nearest house.  His group laid down a barrage of rifle fire and then rushed forward and stormed the house.  The defenders were quickly despatched and the house secured.

The group on the right flank decided to move on to the next house.  Not only did they come under fire from the house itself but they were caught in a crossfire from the house across the street and took several casualties.  This setback stalled the advance on the right.  Rommel pushed his men forward to assault the next house on the left and then moved quickly over to the right flank to restart the advance there.  He decided the best way forward was to literally smoke the defenders out.  He and two of the assault section rushed forward and set fire to the house.  They came under fire but were able to complete their task and fall back.  The fire quickly took hold and the French were forced to fall back once again.  As the first spread it also obscured the house across the street and allowed the German advance to continue unhindered.

With the final house on the left flank having been secured after brief but bloody hand to hand fighting, the Germans regrouped and moved out of the house across the road to take up a position on the last house in the centre.  However, the French occupying the house weren't about to give it up easily and a hail of rifle fire rained down on the advancing Germans, who hunkered down behind the garden wall.

But it wasn't enough as Rommel advanced using the smoke from the burning house as cover and stormed the final property.  Once again the French defenders were defeated and Bleid was taken.

War Against Japan - The Next Round

Our next game, and our last tabletop wargame in 2012, was another outing for Nuts!  This time using the War Against Japan supplement.  Fortunately Lenin had a note of the forces from our last game and so this one was set up as a continuation.

Our mission was "Advance" and our objective was to move two-thirds of our beginning forces off the far end of the table; however, the sections must be free of potential and known enemy forces, and potential enemy forces and potential contacts had to be revealed.

Lenin advanced his squad on the left and I advanced mine in the centre.  Our arrival triggered some potential contacts and it was clear that we were going to have plenty to keep us busy.

Having taken some fire from a small group in a position half way across the table resulting in one of my men going down, we co-ordinated our fire and eliminated the threat.  Lenin then proceeded to advance toward the village.  Unfortunately it wasn't unoccupied!

The Japanese took cover in the buildings and it was clear that they would have to be assaulted in order to clear them out.  I took up covering positions and laid down some suppressive fire along with the MG team whilst Lenin threw some men forward with grenades.

The first building was quickly cleared and Lenin occupied it as a jumping off point for the assault on the next building.  Once again we laid down fire and he threw three men forward with grenades.  They managed to reach the building but one fumbled his grenade and had to hit the deck to avoid becoming a casualty.  The other grenades went in but the troops in this building were more stubborn and needed a second round.

Having taken possession of this second building I moved up to support Lenin.  It was then we encountered rather a large group of Japs advancing from the nearby gully.  After several engages our combined fire with the MG team started to take its toll and they were taking some serious casualties.  We then had to deal with the two fixed positions over to the right flank - combined fire once again began to tell.

I decided it was my turn to assault and advanced two men to grenade the gully.  They came under fire but managed to drop their grenades and dealt with the majority of the remaining Japs.

So we managed to complete the mission with only one dead and three further wounded.

Door to Door

Last Saturday I made it down to the club and put on a 20mm World War II game using Nuts! by Two Hour Wargames.

1000 6 June 1944 - South East of Chef-du-Pont, France

Men from all units of the 507th and some from the 508th PIR reached the railroad station in the center of Chef-du-Pont with little opposition. A small but important bridge is to the southeast. Whilst the remainder of the force clears the town, you have been sent to clear the the road to the southeast of the station.

The players had two squads supplemented later by a third and their objective was to clear the buildings and secure the road so the main force could advance.

The first two squad decided to concentrate and advance on the right flank.  They successfully crossed the crop field and hunkered down behind the hedgerow.  As a few were pushing their way through to observe they were spotted by a lone German rifleman who opened fire.  He missed and quickly ducked back into cover when the paras returned fire.  One group then rushed across the road to the churchyard wall.

One man was sent to recon the church and found nothing but when another group popped up to take a look at the adjacent houses they came under fire again from the rooftop sniper; however, this time a BAR was in place and swept the German's window silencing the threat.  They then advanced into the church.

With Germans obviously occupying some of the buildings on this side of the road, one squad decided to rush across the main road to try to outflank them.  Unfortunately this took them straight across the front of an MG42 team emplaced on the cafe balcony at the far end of the village.

The charge was led by the man carrying the .30 cal and he was hit.  The man carrying the tripod thought better of the advance and darted back to the cover of the field but a couple of the others made it across safely.  With their only machine gun now stranded in the middle of a road swept by enemy fire things were not looking good.

The other groups continued their advance, one squad through the woods to the rear of the buildings and the other to try to clear the first building, the one occupied by the sniper.  One man rushed forward, primed his grenade and tried to throw it through the nearest window.  Unfortunately it ricocheted back and landed nearby!  He clumsily threw himself to one side but, fortunately, was only stunned by the blast.  The remainder of his team tried a more direct approach and assaulted the building neutralising the  occupants.

The squad advancing through the woods moved into position to cover both the buildings and engage the MG team in the cafe.  Unfortunately they were spotted and came under heavy fire, taking several casualties; however, whilst the MG42 was reloading they managed to neutralise its crew.  Two Germans, reluctant to surrender their primary weapon, crept out of the cafe under cover and took over the MG.  Meanwhile the other buildings were slowly being cleared.

The MG42 came back into action but despite cutting down several of the paras the new crew came under heavy fire and suffered the same fate as the first.  The Germans were clearly coming off worst in the firefights, largely due to their poorer quality troops and several casualties were captured as the next building was cleared.

Having heard the exchanges of a fire a third squad had been sent to support the first two and they were slowly advancing down the left flank.  Advancing through an orchard they came under fire and took a casualty but their response silenced the opposition.  An aggressive assault on the building secured it, despite the grenade blasts causing some structural damage.  Moving forward to observe the road, this group spotted and engaged a lone German rushing from one of the buildings about to be assaulted on the other side across to the cafe.  Despite several bursts he managed to throw himself through the open cafe door and out of sight.

This firing gave the assaulting paras pause and luckily they spotted the fact the building they were about to enter had been booby trapped.  A luck escape.

A small group of Germans now engaged the squad on the left flank but, after several exchanges of fire, they were badly mauled and withdrew.

With the upper hand now moving to the Americans, things were looking up when a disturbing noise was heard from the road into the village - the round of tracks!

A Panzer IV and a section of Germans had been sent to support the section holding the village.

The German tank advanced slowly with the infantry split to both the right and the left of it.

The group on the left had a nasty shock as they were outflanked by some paras who soon put paid to them.

The squad on the left flank prepared themselves for the assault but when the tank swung into view the first man's nerve broke and he ran.  He fell in hail of bullets from the tank's machine guns.  The NCO, however, was made of sterner stuff and he threw his Gammon grenade at the tank.  It was a desperate move but his aim was spectacular and the explosion brought the tank to a grinding halt as it burst into flames.

Several exchanges of grenades and automatic fire between the infantry caused casualties on both sides but with their armour support destroyed the Germans decided to withdraw and the engagement went to the Americans.

Operation Cauldron - Take 2

This weekend I hosted a get together of a few old wargaming chums and we each put on a game. Since I was the host it was easy for me to set my game up early and so I went first.

As it's the 70th anniversary of Operation Jubilee I thought it would be appropriate to put on part of the raid. As I don't yet have quite enough landing craft, tanks, figures or terrain to manage the main assault I decided to focus on one of the associated Commando raids.

I picked Operation Cauldron, the assault on Hess battery (not least because I'd already done a smaller version of it!). Since I was doing the game in 28mm I couldn't quite fit the landing and the battery all on a single table so I produced a slightly compressed section of the battery itself.

A couple of the chaps took command of the F Troop with the objective of disabling the two guns at one end of the battery.  Meanwhile Lenin had the unenviable task of holding them off until reinforcements could arrive.

F Troops first challenge was breaching the barbed wire without attracting the attention of the MG34 post guarding the road entrance.

Unfortunately they were spotted and came under a hail of fire.  The first group ducked back out of the line of fire whilst the bren gun team engaged the german position.  Meanwhile another group were advancing on the wire with bangalore torpedoes.

The heavy fire from the MG34 caused it to run out of ammo and whilst they were changing belts the Commandos charged in an threw grenades over the germans' sandbags.  Having taken out the first obstacle the two groups advanced separately towards the buildings.  Unluckily the first group was spotted by yet another german machine gun position and were forced to take cover again.  Only this time the bren gunner went down in an exposed position and it took several attempts to pull him to safety along with his weapon.

The other group moved steadily forward until they were engaged by german rifle and sub-machine gun fire.  With the team ducking for cover, the Captain rushed across the street and threw a grenade threw the germans' open window eliminating the threat.  This group could then continue to advance.

Up until this point the german flak tower had be preoccupied with the RAF aircraft flying overhead and  A Troop who were providing covering fire from the other side of the battery.

Once again the advance was held up by an advancing german section but they were quickly dealt with and their machine gun, which was covering the road, was knocked out by a couple of 2 inch mortar rounds from A Troop.

When the flak tower spotted the Commandos it came under fire from the bren team they had left covering it and whilst they were throwing themselves into cover they came under fire from the A Troop mortar.

With most of the German defenders neutralised the raiders moved forward to their objectives, blew them and withdrew through the fence line covered by A Troop to the extraction point no Orange Beach 1.

WW2: Eviction Notice

Lieutenants Summers and Turnbull along with Sgt. Bunkum were faced with a problem.  Having only a few men they had to hold up a German attack supported by some armour!

Lt. Summers took a few men and took up a position in a cottage on the road.  He carefully concealed the bazooka team behind the bocage in a field to the rear.

Lt. Turnbull took the .30 cal and few men and occupied the house on the right but pushed a small group forward to cover the field adjacent to the road.

Whilst Sgt. Bunkum and the remaining men formed the reserve.

The German assault group entered the field, split into two teams and began to advance down the side of the crops.  They move cautiously until the reached the edge of the planting and peered around it.

They suddenly came under a hail of automatic fire from a US sub-machine gun, the lead man was hit and the others ducked back.  Meanwhile their other team was making good progress down the far side of the field.

On the other side of the road the other squad and their MG42 team advanced, reaching a hedge overlooking Lt. Summers' position.  They were spotted when they tried to push the LMG through the hedge and two of the men went down.  They were luckier with their next attempt and raked the garden wall with the MG42, hitting the Lieutenant.

With the wall being hammered with machine gun fire the other paratroopers weren't waiting around to be out flanked.  They dragged Summers behind the house and, picking him up rushed across a lane to the safety of a bocage rimmed field.  Predictable as ever the Germans flanked the US position and after throwing a couple of grenades in rushed it - only to find that the birds had flown.

On the other flank the Germans were pushing their way through the standing crops and then threw grenades towards the US position.  The US paratroopers were stunned but the Germans then rushed them and only one escaped back to Lt. Turnbull's position.

Germans couldn't advance against against the extra men and firepower.  And, on the other side of the field the other German team had been spotted from the house and came under heavy fire and were forced to withdraw after taking a couple of casualties.

At this point the German armour arrived.  The panzer clanked its way down the road right into sight of the US bazooka team.  Unfortunately the guy with the bazooka was a little jumpy and their first shot went wide (but wide enough for the tank crew not to have notice it).  They reloaded and had another go - a palpable hit but on the front armour - not enough to penetrate.  The tank's turret began to traverse their way so they threw themselves down behind the bocage bank just in time as the shot was short.

With both armour and infantry advancing on their position the team took the incapacitated Lt. Summers and withdrew to join up with Sgt. Bunkum.  The Germans took their position.

With further German reinforcements arriving the paratroopers withdrew but in the confusion two of the men were captured.