söndag 7 juli 2013

Operation: Overlord - Fallschirmjägers defending versus 1st ID

The Big Red One has gotten off from Omaha beach and started their push inland. Reports have come in about a Fallschirmjäger company defending a road junction which is needed to secure the supply transports for further progress inland. Initial recon confirm two anti tank bunkers and a platoon of Green Devils having set up defences around a farm just outside town.
Two platoons of GIs with artillery support and a few light tanks begin their advance through the fields. 


Just after initial deployment, Stuarts have shifted left, everything else having moved forward.
The bunkers cover one flank each, with the right hand side having a pretty good field of fire making any attempt to move up fatal.
The Germans took the opportunity and revealed two 88s by the hill on the left flank. They did not hesitate to open fire and destroyed one Stuart and bailed a second. This was followed up with a barrage from the captured french 155 mm guns who destroyed another Stuart and made the bailed crew run for their lives. The platoon lost all hope and left the field leaving three burning wrecks.
But it was not enough, the artillery barrage also pinned the left most infantry platoon, stopping them in their tracks.
With combined artillery and some well placed shots from the recon patrol, the German Flak guns were destroyed, opening up for the Americans to send out their AOP to take care of the German artillery. The Germans held on to the farm, waiting for their reserves to show up. 
First to arrive was a platoon of some captured American hardware, one Stuart and two Greyhounds. They swiftly rolled up the road towards the town to take care of the intruders. In a desperate attempt to stop them, four M3 anti tank guns sprung their ambush in town but this made an excellent target for the German spotter to range in on.In their first salvo, the M3s blew up one Greyhound but the left the second one and the Stuart unharmed. 
While the second platoon on the right flank got pinned over and over, the first platoon on the left tried to move up together with the recon team. Meanwhile a platoon of three PaK 40s moved up in a wheat field next to the bunker on the left flank, scaring the recon patrol from moving further up the to threaten the objective in front of the farm.
The last German reserve to arrive was another platoon of Fallschirmjägers, quickly moving up the right flank and digging in among the small hills. With not much to threaten them, the Germans fired away with artillery and machine guns on the covering Americans.
At the same time, the captured tanks moved up through the tree line next to the road and fired away on the first rifle platoon who covered next to the hill and in a wheat field. The AOP decided to detour from chasing the enemy artillery and help the dough boys. This resulted in another destroyed Greyhound but the Stuart was still alive. With no proper anti tank resources, two brave bazooka teams ran up to save the day but they both missed their shots. With nothing else left, the US recon platoon fired and managed to destroy the Stuart.
To make life easier, an effort to remove the PaK-platoon was made, and it was successful indeed. A first round of fire took out two gun teams and a second round removed the last one.   
The AOP circled back around the fields and managed to spot the pesky observer and brought down a full eight gun barrage on him, without even scratching him. A second observer was spotted on the hill next to the right hand bunker and one of the US anti tank guns took aim and managed to snipe him down leaving the observer in the back the only proper spotter left for the Germans. With only one this team left, the AOP took another turn of bombardment which only left a burning boot in the corner of the field.
During this time, the Devils on the right flank moved up, seeing an opportunity with only two M3 guns defending the flank. In what looked like a an easy task backfired on them when the gun crews managed to fend off the assault, leaving the Germans in the open and a juicy target for the American howitzers.
In a final move, the German platoon defending the farm decided to counter assault the American first platoon, but with a barrage of bullets they defended them selves and wiped out the Germans.
Now being down to just a few men, the German commander could not continue to motivate his men and the company broke down.
With this, the allied forces gained one small but important piece of France on their way to Berlin.


US Rifle
HQ + 2 bazooka
2 Fulla Rifle Platoons
1 Cav Recon Platoon
5 Stuarts
Towed TD Platoon
105mm howitzer battery
155mm howitzer battery
AOP

FJ
HQ + 2 SW
2 FJ Platoons + PF upgrade
MG Platoon
3 PaK 40
Captured tanks (Stuart + 2 Greyhounds)
Captured 15.5cm French Howitzers
2 LW FlaK36 88mm guns
2 AT Bunkers

Mission: No Retreat
Allied 5-2 victory

This is the first game on the new gaming table and one thing is for sure, more and better lighting is needed in my basement. I took a bunch of photos during the game but the phone camera is not good enough for the poor light and the pictures got very blurry. Bad mistake from my side to not check the first pictures before proceeding.

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