The Day of Days

I stood on the deck of the transport ship reading for the third time the copy of general Ike's transcript about our place in history and freeing Europe. All I could think of was the mission and if I had forgotten anything. As well as all the what ifs. We had trained extensively for months but there was still a lot of unknown factors that could jeopardize the whole invasion.

I looked towards the coast for the hundredth time realizing for the first I could make out the shore. The new day was allowing me to just glimpse the out line of buildings on the dark horizon. BUILDINGS, some thing was not right already. The ships intercom screeched at that same moment calling the company commander to the ward room immediately.Once there I and the rest of the command team found out there had been a foul up in navigation or some thing of that order as we were in the wrong place. We found our self at the wrong beach. There was no time to relocate to the right beach as the preliminary bombardment could be heard starting around Omaha and Utah beaches. I told the Captain we might as well start here and any naval gun support he could supply would be hugely appreciated as limited as it would be, we only had a couple of destroyers as immediate escorts.

I thought I recognized the immediate area from the intelligence and scores of aerial photos we had studied back in England. The only trouble was this beach was backed by an extensive resort town. Thoughts of Dieppe came rapidly to mind. I guessed that even if we could act as a diversion or draw reserves to the wrong beaches we could still be useful on the day of days.

  

  After Action Report June 28-06-1944 

     After arriving at the wrong location for amphibious operation code named Overlord elements of the 1st Div. decided to risk a unplanned landing operation to help relieve pressure on the main landing sites.First wave landed around 06:25 after a quick preliminary bombardment. As luck would have it we landed on the northern side of the beach which was lightly defended.One recon platoon and two boat sections were in the first wave and rapidly silenced the only oposition on the beach. They then came under very accurate artillery fire causing light casualties at first. This fire caused a slowing of exiting the beach.Not sure how, but shortly after the first wave landed a group of Thunderbolt ground attack aircraft arrieved over head and began attacking positions behind the beach.We can report at least one shot down by heavy AA fire.The air support did manage to silence a 88 FLAK battery located behind the beach.

   The main issue that slowed the advance was the accurate artillery fire directed by FO's located in a large water front hotel majorly slowing any forward movement. Finaly managed to get a boat section in place to assault and clear the building, but they had caused many casualties.

  

  Then the armour started to arrieve and make its way off the beach. The sea wall slowed up operation greatly and vehicles getting bogged at the one exit was no help.

   At this point the enemy started to try and fall back to cover the fuel and ammo dumps located at the southern part of the beach. My only hope was that there was enough time to now roll up the town and capture both objectives.The DD tanks were in the streets when they spotted a platoon of grenadiers falling back to the fuel dump, the gunned their engines and raced after them mowing down many and causing the rest to break and run for the rear, their day was over.

      The armoured platoon then went on to capture the fuel dump and race on and threaten the ammo dump. Unfortunately the enemy had managed to get up major reserves and protect the ammo dump and cover the artillery position nearby.My infantry were still tring to catch up with the armour when the enemy counter attacked with more grenadiers and marder AT guns. The armoured platoon tried to counter agresively but the enemy fire was both accurate and telling. The DD tanks were either destroyed or driven off.

  Unfortunately we held neither objective but were well and truely inland and in a good position to continue the advance the next day 

THE BATTLE FOR FRANCE IS OVER NOW STARTS THE BATTLE FOR BRITAIN.

 

My best mate and another good friend are embarking on a new endeavor, to re-fight the Battle of Britain day for day. Well as close as we can try. We will be using Bag the Hun as our rules and 1/600 scale Tumbling Dice aircraft.I've read the rules and realy like the card initiative method that makes it very random who will go next.Though first of all we need some where to play. The hotz mats are the best, but a little dear for us at the moment, something to save up for. So my friend and myself are building our own mats. Squirrel has already blazed a path by creating a hex map on some MDF sheets. So I am taking that to the next level. Painting terrain on the board first before tracing the hexs onto it.

I am old school so the size is 2'by 4' there will be two when finished

 First of all I started by spraying a matte varnish to seal the MDF other wise it will just drink the paint. When that had dried I started spraying a mix of buff, brown, and green patches on.Then with my air brush added hedges betweem the fields.

This is the first board I will post the second later.

 Now they are ready for the hexs.     

FIGHTING WITHDRAWAL ON THE OUT SKIRTS OF LONDON

After action report 06-07-44

The 2nd Coy. had been tasked with holding a large industrial estate on the out skirts of London. We had no idea why, but that's the way armies operate. All we knew was that some troops from 1st Coy. had taken it and we would hold it until ordered to withdrawal, which could come at any moment. So the men dug in and did what troops all around the world do, hurry up and wait. Some of the attached engineers had started calling the place Little Stalingrad.( they had been with the troops who had bypassed the city late last year).
 My force consisted of two infantry platoons, who had not received a consignment of panzerfausts as yet. An engineering platoon, Our old friends the panther platoon from 2nd Company, as well as two stummels and lastly two SP batteries( one by 105mm and the other 155mm).

Little Stalingrad

 We had only been here 24 hours when we felt them coming before we sore them. My forward scouts reported a dedicated Russian assault Coy. was attacking. My left flank was under attack by an infantry platoon with support, a recce detachment,anti tank guns and a battery of 122mm howitzers. The right flank was facing an other infantry platoon (more like a company). It also had support, a battery of 76mm infantry guns and the deadliest of all a platoon of 122mm assault guns.

the factory on the right flank

 The Russians started by infiltrating a platoon right up to the cross roads. That was when we noticed it, as a storm of bullets hit the small factory holding the engineers. I moved the panthers up to engage them allowing the engineers to remain gone to ground, saving their fire.
 Mean while on the right flank the Reds advanced. That was when I sprang an ambush on them of two pak 40 AT guns. They managed to only kill one tank before return fire wiped them out, not a good start. The Red infantry kept advancing even as we hit them with artillery fire, pinning them but not killing any. At this point I will mention that the right hand factory was held by an infantry platoon with my 2IC and his transport.
The Reds moved up to position to launch an assault with support from the SU 122 guns. My infantry platoon opened fire scoring many hits, but not enough to pin the Reds. the SMG assault fire was murderous killing many of my platoon before we could stop them. We could only hold them for a moment until they shot my platoon to death, all that was left was the command section, who had enough. They fled leaving the 2IC and his trusty half track.

2IC and the little support he got consolidate their position after the assault.

That was when 1st Lie. Willaim Schneider went to work. He moved to contest the objective and face off against the Reds with no support , even though I was trying to move another platoon to help, it would take time to get there. The Reds came on thinking an easy victory, that was when willy and his half track laid done a withering fire hitting the now half strength Red platoon killing many and more importantly pinning them. Then they rallied and tried again to the same result, more dead Reds and pinned. Then the rescue platoon started to arrive, but so did the SU 122 guns. So Willy lead a counter attack against the one tank that made it into the factory as the others got hung up on some rubble. Once again he rose to the occasion, remember that none of them had more than hand grenades and SMGs to attack with. At this point the Red infantry had had enough and fled the battle shooting their own commissar as well in the rout. Willy pinned the tank and killed the Reds 2IC who had been foolish enough to think he could stop'' Blitzkrieg Willy ''. Then dispatched the enemy armor at their leisure. The right flank had gone from lost to well and truely in hand.

The horde that was on the left flank.

Back on the left flank my panthers were doing a little damage but not stopping the Reds. They tried assaulting my engineers, but got pinned and stopped dead. Then went onto survive my fire at them. That was when HQ sent a signal to start withdrawing immediately, so i sent my two stummels to the rear. This was going to be one tricky balancing act. withdraw too fast and we would calapse, too slow and we could get over run. We managed to hold off the Reds until I had to withdraw the engineers then they managed to destroy one of the panthers who in turn moved to cover the objective. That left two panthers to hold the horde, with the help of both batteries. At that stage the artillery fire was still not enough to stop the Reds. They moved right up to the objective and killed another tank, forcing the last one to retreat. But they drove right back in and tracked the Reds MGs blazing and a too and fro melee insured. The winner finally being the panther at that point the Reds had enough, they fled and we withdrew in good order. (5 to 2 victory for Axis)

the final blow

 

BATTLE REPORT NO. 2

                                   RECON IN FORCE 5TH SS            



Area of operations 25-5-1944

 After the companies hard fighting the week before, we were tasked with scouting an area south of Gloucester. The reports were that Amis troops were deploying for a counter attack. So division wanted some eyes on the area in case they were right. As this was recon work I only sent 2/3rds of the company giving time for some maintenance on unit vehicles and down time for personal. Only the previous day a MK IV platoon had been reassigned to the 2nd Coy. The leader was a Max Endelberg (iron cross with oak leaves). He was a veteran of the eastern front.So lets see how he handles a little recon work. I went with them, as well as my 2IC just in case. I was warned that he could be reckless in the heat of action and had suffered high casualty rates in Russia.We still have many days of hard fighting ahead of us, so if need be I would be able to curb his blood lust if required.




Right hand side battle group


 We travelled by two parallel roads until we were about two km. from a main cross road south of Gloucester. That was when two Amis AA half tracks came barrelling around a corner straight into the tank platoon and accompanying infantry support. The were faster than us in recovering and opened fire on the infantry causing some casualties. That was the last time they would fire though, Max quickly swung into action and fired two quick rounds at the half tracks with the rest of his platoon joining in. The results were as one would suspect, two burning enemy vehicles.




Infantry scatter but armour engages and scores two hits.

 Then the radio waves crackled to life with reports from the left hand battle group, they had spotted more Amis infantry dug in near a wood to their front. Max had them hold and deploy their pak support and await further orders. Mean while the tank platoon advanced very aggressively, coming under light artillery fire. We could hear the weapons firing so they had to be close. Max then spotted more Amis infantry to his front right flank. I will admit his control of the escalating situation was first class. He ordered his supporting infantry to make there way to the front via a woods on the right flank and prepare for close action, but he still charged to the front centre looking for the light guns firing. About now my 2IC who was travelling with the left hand battle group radioed in that a section of AT guns was stationed on the reverse slope of a hill on the left flank of the tank platoon. The trouble was that Max was in his element, so he thought. He rounded the hill to find some M8 GMC firing the bombardment, he quickly engaged them and that was when every thing went wrong.





The M8 GMC with the protecting AT gun section





The aftermath of a close quarters gun dual.

 Max closed too much with the M8GMC's, allowing the AT guns to man handle up the hill and engage the tank platoon. The AT guns also had hand held AT weapons in large numbers. As he was leading from the front the enemy gunners singled him out and the volume of fire was too much.When the smoke had cleared Max and his crew were no more and his platoon had retired into a field of wheat. I had to act quickly, I radioed my 2IC and told him to put as much fire on the guns as possible with out exposing his force to needless casualties. I communicated with the 2IC of the tank platoon and rallied them to stay in the fight. My 2IC radioed back that he was using a mortar platoon to direct fire onto the guns as well as his Pak 40's, but they were firing at max range. I could see that this was going to be a long day.
The tank platoon was pressed very heavily by the AT guns and bazookas, but they managed to inflect enough damage to detoured them whilst only losing one other tank.The tanks then informed me that they had taken fire from a barn on their right flank. Their infantry confirmed that when they spotted more dug in infantry around the barn. I rapidly organised a combined assault on the barn and surrounding fields, driving as fast as possible to catch up with the now ready to assault infantry.

The Amis in the field near the barn.

The Amis troops were of a calibre not yet seen by our forces in this war yet, they laied down a suppressing fire like no other, even while pinned down. My infantry platoon was stopped dead in its tracks and broken with large amount of casualties.The tank platoon then had to change targets as the AT guns were pressing on them again, over the next ten minutes a gunnery dual developed between them, with the tanks finally reducing the AT gun section to its command group only. I was now near the position that my infantry were before their demise

That's when I spotted two AT infantry teams stalking my tank platoon, they were unable to bring their guns to bear in time. I looked at command support group and said if we do not try to stop them we may lose this engagement and to my pride they all agreed to the man. So with my half track laying down suppressive fire and us with grenade and SMG in hand we charged the AT teams. At this stage I thought that two LMG teams to the rear of the AT teams would not see us coming, how wrong I was they both opened fire at a withering rate (after the engagement my Coy. Sargent checked with everyone involved and out of the three of us I had one hole in my right sleeve, my sargent one in his left leg pants and our runner had two in his jacket, but no blood lose amongst us). We still closed with the enemy and dispatched him, then beat a hasty retreat. No infantry wants to tackle two LMG single handedly, two bazookas not a problem. Around now the command team of the AT guns lost their nerve and headed for the rear, firstly the Amis infantry on the left noticed their centre go and started to withdraw, rapidly followed by the other flank. It had been a very close run affair. Conclusion, we now know that the Amis are deploying veteran troops to this theatre and they are more organised than we believed. They fought well and acquitted themselves bravely, we should not under estimate there capabilities.



Operation Sealion After Action Report

                   SS Wiking Contact Red Romanian Forces

What follows is the account of the engagement that occurred in and around a village near Chard, Somerset.

My mech. Coy. Had just taken a village and we reorganising to move onto a small hill overlooking the area, when a recon unit of ours came back  through the village informing me that a force that looked Romanian in nature approaching from enemy lines. I  decided  that caution was in order as I had read a report warning that some units the Russians had over run on the east had changed sides. We prepared and waited. The Romanians were posturing very aggressively. Then my forward elements reported coming under fire. Then sketchy reports of a Russian tank Coy. Operating on my right flank. This was going to be no ordinary encounter. I deployed my 1st. Infantry platoon forward with panther support. My heavy SP guns in the rear, they still had to site their guns in. The rest of my Coy. I was still trying to recall from the hills forward and would not be here for the start. I decided that an aggressive response was the best course of action.

 My panthers attacked with my infantry flanking to their right. We soon found that we were facing a Romanian Tank Coy. They had sited some 100mm guns in a field surrounded by hedges, infantry in front of them, then finally a stugg battery to their right.

 From the very outset my armoured support was less than inspiring. They managed to hit consistently, but they just did not penetrate. (note 1) My guns started to fire, but largely ineffectually as well.  The panthers made it to their objective early on, but were unable to push off the infantry or the now mounting enemy armour. That was when the report of the t-34 Coy. In the area became fact.(note 2) They also had some of the new t-34/85 models with them. All I had covering the town was my battery of sp 150mm guns.

 My reserves still had not arrived. This is where the battery showed that the waffen ss are an elite unit. They managed to destroy 5 out of the 6 vehicles And break the moral of the platoon. Saving the village from capture.(note 3)

 That is where everything really started to go wrong. My reserves finally made it in dribs and drabs, but were unable to engage the enemy effectively. The Romanians were definitely veteran troops but less than motivated. Making them hard to hit, but also they were not keen to advance and went to ground rapidly not to move again. On the left flank of the engagement my sp flak and an 88mm battery became bunched up. Then an infantry platoon also moved through the same position giving the enemy 100mm battery a great target. The result was to be expected, death and destruction.

 The enemy fire was not as effective as it could have been over all, so for the next few hours we traded fire,  neither side strong enough to capitalise. With the coming of night both sides retreated to reorganise.

Conclusion is that we still hold the village and we gained some very valuable intelligence about enemy activity, both on the island and the continent.

Note 1

We need to check all ammo coming off the supply ships the tank crew when questioned remarked that it could have been damp AT  rounds that caused the ineffective fire.

Note2

It now looks like the rumours of Russian forces in England are fact. Infantry as well as armour. They must be watched on the eastern front, they could still rebuild before we finish off the tommies.

Note 3

Request the battery commander may be considered for a commendation as their action saved the village from falling which would have cut off the whole Coy. Their professionalism under fire is what all troops should aspire to.  

So a war gamer has just taken the plunge and started his own blog,This is going to be a work in progress (a very slow work). I hope to share a hobby that has made me some good friends and been a lot of fun.It has opened my eyes to a lot of history both good and not so good. I have learned a lot of tricks of the trade so to speak and I would like to share these with any one interested. I would pretty much just like to add to a hobby that has given so much to me.Whilst taking my hobby to a new level.
Therefore I will be posting battle reports, mainly from world war 2. This is the period that I enjoy the most.Painting tips and tutorials and basing ideas.Basicly any thing that I think might be useful to other gamers.So I will be starting with a series of battle reports as I have gotten involved with Operation Sealion, a global campaign that is being run by W.W.P.D.  I think that it is a great idea and will do my best to help it. My first game will be Friday night the 18-05-12 were I will take plenty of photos and give I hope  an interesting account of the game. So stay posted and lets hope that this is the first posting of many more to come.