Normandy 44 : debriefing of a battle in Utah Beach sector

[Anatoli]

Hi... 

Here is a (big!) debriefing of a battle we played yesterday, in the Saumur Tank Museum ; there was a show including several games with miniatures.

As I just finished my Normandy project, I went with Pierre and Patrick in order to play a scenario... 

The scenario takes place in the Utah Beach sector, on 6th of june 44, 2 PM. German troops from the 91. Inf. Div. are deployed in Fauville, 1,5 km south from Sainte-Mère-Eglise (SME). They just realized that SME fell in US hands. By sizing Fauville, they have an excellent firing position over the outskirts of this village, a big typical "bocage". The also sent a small unit to occupy Les Forges village.

American troops of the 4th Inf. Div. and 82nd Airborne div., supported by several Sherman of the 70th Tank Batalion must capture these 2 villages. They are situated within the LZ.W, a zone where gliders will land in a few hours... If the 2 villages are not sized by allied troops, gliders will be under a heavy german fire when they come... (Operation Elmira).

During the game, there was a fierce battle around Les Forges sector. German troops deployed a PaK40 within the willage, a MG42 and a small combat group. After the village was surrounded by US troops, germans had a desperate fight but failed to hold this position...

In the farm situated in the north-east of the map, paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne div. tried to capture the building. They nearly succeded but were finally thrown away by a counter attack supported by mortars...

After Les Forges was captured, there was a fight with tanks involved. A Sherman was destroyed but germans lost most of their tanks. US troops made a breakthrough north toward Fauville. But german troops in Fauville were ready for the battle to come...


Here are some pictures of the drama...    They also conclude my topic about the Normandy project...
My next project might be 14th army in Burma...




































































































































































































































































Nearly all the miniatures are Peter Pig, as some scenery elements too...
Buildings were made by Loïc Neveu.


Cheers,

Xavier

[martin goddard]

Wonderful Xavier

Thanks for putting up the pictures


martin

[Colonel Kilgore]

Really lovely stuff, Xavier and Loïc - bravo!

Simon

[Leman (Andy)]

What a great looking table. Nice to see plenty of street furniture to help capture the look of a built-up area.

[Colonel Kilgore]

There are so many nice touches. The green (moss / mould) patches on the walls softens things up too.

Simon

[Anatoli]

Many thanks for your very nice comments, gentlemen... 

The green patches on the walls are fine turf randomly glued with PVA... 

[Stewart 46A]

Excellent looking game, great scenery

Stewart

[Anatoli]

Hi... 

As I try to tidy pictures on my computer (!!)    , I found some few more pictures of the same scenario we played a few weeks after the Saumur event...

We were 6 players around this table at our local club.

It was a fierce battle, as the main action took place in the village of "Les Forges" : this time, german HQ sent reinforcement in Les Forges to delay the american advance. They were really agressive in their way to defend the village... There were some "heroïc" actions ...

As a result, the village was captured after a frontal and a flank combined attack ; but due to heavy casualties in the combats, american troops had to reorganize before moving to the next objective : village of "Fauville".

Here are the pictures...


































































































Cheers,

Xavier

[Colonel Kilgore]

That is a simply beautiful table Xavier!

Wonderful stuff and great photos - thanks for sharing. You must all have had a wonderful game.

Simon

[martin goddard]

That is marvellous. The photography is wonderful too.  Thank you for letting us see it.


martin

[Anatoli]

Thank you for your very kind comments, gentlemen... 

The scenario was a challenge for both sides.

German had week troops in "Les Forges" village, and they had to decide wether they retreat or defend this village. They know that if they stayed, they would have been surrounded by american troops. They chose to stay and fight !

Two StuG IIIG and a few old french captured tanks were sent from "Fauville" to "Les Forges" to support them. The purpose of this decision was to delay american advance in order to reorganize a strong german defense position in "Fauville", the main objective for american troops.

The nature of the terrain, full of "bocage", was a nightmare as it was nearly impossible to get proper line of sight for tanks, guns... Some american troops were involved in small ambushes as german troops later on.

The big fight in "Les Forges" ended when american troops cleared the village. But they suffered heavy losses and as it took time to capture the village, german troops reinforced and prepared a strong defense in "Fauville".

This is the scenario map :





1 - 2 - 3 - 4 = 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment (82nd Airborne Division) deployement.
B = 70th Tank Battalion deployement.
Zone de déploiement US = deployement of 8th Infantry Regiment (4th Infantry Division) troops.
Red squares = german Grenadier Regiment 1058 (91. Infanterie Division) deployement.
Ferme = farm.


Victory conditions :

German player Complete victory: to hold "Les Forges" and "Fauville" under the following conditions:
• Fauville: own at least 3 squares out of the 6 in the village, including the 2 located furthest to the south.
• Les Forges: have at least 1 square in the village of Les Forges with artillery (mortars, or PaK40, or tanks)
Marginal victory: to hold "Fauville" (owning at least 4 squares out of the 6 in the village, including at least the 2 located furthest to the south).
Defeat: loss of "Fauville".

American player Complete victory: capture of "Les Forges" and "Fauville" under the following conditions:
• Fauville: capture at least 3 squares in the village, including the 2 located furthest south.
• Les Forges: eradicate any German troops (in particular prevent the German player from maintaining artillery - PaK40, mortars, tanks - inside). If the German player still has artillery in the village, "Les Forges" will not be considered captured. If the German player only has infantry left in the village, the latter is considered secure by the Americans (the Germans will no longer be able to threaten the gliders coming later).
Defeat: failure to capture "Fauville".


Note : presence of french captured tanks (german side) was not historical in this sector... They were located 4 km north west of Fauville... But these Peter Pig tanks are so beautifull... :-)


Cheers,

Xavier

[Colonel Kilgore]

Thanks for the explanation and nice map, Xavier.

What rules did you use?

Simon

[Anatoli]

We use the rules writen by Pierre : "Groupe Franc". Unfortunately, they are in french language...

But I guess it should work with any kind of rules using squares (PBI, ...).

I will prepare an english translation of the scenario, with a "generic" order of battle (eg, xx US inf. platoons, xx german inf. platoons, xx artillery, xx tanks...).


Cheers,

Xavier

[martin goddard]

Great project.
Congratulations on good work.

martin