The Invasion So Far…

In our last after action report, I introduced Normandy ’44 and discussed the initial invasion plus airdrops. I sprinkled in a little commentary on game mechanics while reporting on the action. I intend to continue this format for the rest of the series. Last time we had just witnessed the failure of the 21^st Panzer Division to bottle up the allies at Sword Beach in an attempt to seal them off and throw them back into the sea. To the west, Omaha was very successful rather than the near run thing it was historically and the US Army successfully linked up with the US paratroopers at Utah beach.

June 8^th

More troops arrived at the beaches, German reinforcements moved onto the map, and my turns would now gradually settle into a routine of sorts. The game is very much old school with its I-Go-U-Go style of play. There is a general Weather phase that affects air and naval support the Allies receive, as well as supplies and replacements for both sides. In the CAEN sector, you can see the Canadians holding an extended line arrayed against the 12^th SS Panzer Division while the 6^th Airborne Division tries to keep its toehold across the river.

Sadly for the Allies, German armor manages to evict the paratroopers from Ranville and improve their defensive line tremendously compared to the historical outcome. This sector has a high counter density as both sides pour in large numbers of units to fight over the important objective city of Caen, which consists of multiple hexes and very favorable defensive terrain.

One aspect I quickly grasped is that retreating is quite bad for your units. Primarily because they are hit with a “Disrupted” marker; that means they won’t be able to attack for another turn while they regroup. I was willing to prevent retreats at almost any cost if I was in good terrain and get beneficial modifiers.

 For this purpose, the game introduces an interesting mechanism for the defender called “Determined Defense”. If you have a positive troop quality unit (like American paratroopers) or you’re in good terrain, then being determined can stop the enemy in his tracks, or at least make them pay dearly for that hex. You can use this mechanic whenever your troops suffer a retreat result on the CRT. You roll on a different table consulting the column according to terrain; the best ones are strong points, improved positions (which troops can create by digging in), towns and cities. The worst terrain for determined defense is open and marshy swamp areas. You pick one unit in the hex to be the “lead” unit. You use the troop quality (anywhere from -2 to +1) as a modifier and the defender can choose to add some artillery as a bonus. They can also get a benefit from having better armor (some anti-tank guns count for this as well, those Flak 88s can be punishing for an attacker). The results can vary between no effect (and you retreat anyway), suffer a step loss but stop the retreat, stop the retreat with no further impact or even inflict a loss on the attacker and stop the retreat.

The rivers and swampy areas dominate the geography. The highway goes northwest to Cherbourg and southeast to Carentan and the interior. That city is a major chokepoint that must fall before the Allies can link the beaches of UTAH and OMAHA. The 101st Airborne and CCA from 2^nd Armored tear the heart out of 709^th Division near Crisbecq. The 82^nd Airborne and 4^th Division force the Mederet River by pushing back the elements of the 243^rd Division.

Over at Omaha, the sector is thin for the Axis. On their left side, the 1^st Division took the city of Bayeux and the subpar German units can barely hold on. The 5^th Rangers take out the position at Point du Hoc. Meanwhile 29th Division still hasn’t cleared the highway as the Germans hold but at the cost of their flak 88s anti-tank units. The Germans want to keep at least one Axis unit next to the Omaha beaches because each turn a unit is there delays mulberry construction.

The CAEN sector shows heavy fighting. The Canadians move forward. The British force the river and the German 352nd division is decimated and in danger of envelopment. The 21^st Panzer Division holds against the British 3^rd Division at the cost of more tanks. For the Germans, armor is nearly irreplaceable and each step is painful to lose. They will have to find a way to counter that Armored battalion that reached the Highway or watch their flank turned.

June 9^th

Weather can be a bear. The worst thing the Allies want to roll is a one (1) during the Weather Phase. That brings a storm turn. It’s bad because they deprive the Allies of all air and naval support. It stops the flow of supplies to the beaches and prevents reinforcements from landing. Overall, the German player will want lots of cloud cover and heavy rain. They can also move their mechanized forces a little bit more freely on the highways.

Now the 12^th SS Panzer Division is jumping into the fray. You can see how the 21^st has shifted a bit to concentrate and allow the storm troopers to go at the Canadians. This sent the Canadians stumbling back in disarray.

German reinforcements arrived to push back the Allied armor unit that threatened to get behind the Axis defense of Caen. Now it’s the British who have to scramble and make sure they’re covering the river line to protect Arromanches; that’s the location where they are building their mulberry.

While the 9^th Infantry Division clears the strong point at Ravenoville along the beach, German forces at Crisbecq repulse the 101^st Airborne Division causing serious losses to CCA 2nd Armored. The 82^nd Airborne is unable to dislodge the German paratroopers near Carentan.

In the OMAHA sector, the 29^th Infantry Division finally breaks through and is on the road to Isigny sur-Mer. The highway is now clear of Axis forces and mulberry construction can begin. The plan is to threaten Carentan from the east and link up the beaches.

Meanwhile, the 4^th Cavalry and 2^nd Infantry Division took Trévieres. The German 352^nd Division has nearly ceased to exist as a fighting force. The road to St. Lo is practically wide open.

The British 50th Division took out another battalion from the German 352^nd Infantry Division (they are the Allied punching bag in this game). The US 1st Infantry Division exploited the hole to launch a spoiling attack on elements of the Panzer Lehr Division that were thrown back in disarray. Further east, the British 7th Armored suffered heavy losses attempting to flank Panzer Lehr (that was some seriously bad die rolling there).

We now turn out attention to Caen itself again. The British have no choice but to keep attacking and try to grind down the enemy forces through attrition. The 12^th SS Panzergrenadiers soundly repulse attacks from the 51^st Division and the 6^th Airborne Division. On the other side of Caen, multiple divisions take turns hitting the 21^st Panzer Division causing the Axis considerable tank losses.

June 10^th

The weather for this turn improves, which means the Allied beaches are back in business, airpower is present and naval guns are firing. For the Germans nice weather is bad. Whenever they attack in good weather, they must roll on a table (called Jabos) to take into account allied defensive air support. Depending on how unlucky they are, this table may have no effect or can cause as many as three column shifts against them during combat. Ouch!

This impact was illustrated quite well when the 12^th SS Panzer Division and 21^st Panzer Division counter attacked at Épron. The Canadian 3^rd Division sustained casualties but gave the Panther tanks a bloody nose. This wouldn’t be the last time the panzers tried to push the Canadians out.

Meanwhile, the 101^st Airborne and 9^th Infantry keep hitting the 709^th Division and take Crisbecq. The town of Montebourg beckons.

On the southern end of UTAH, the 82^nd Airborne and 4^th Division finally force the Seves River and reach the road to Carentan. Further east the 29^th  Division takes Isigny sur-Mer. With forces approaching from the North, West and East, the Germans are hard-pressed to continue denying Carentan, but the fallschirmjäger are up to the task and promise to fight hard as they dig an entrenchment.

Back east at CAEN, the 2^nd Canadian Armored brigade and 3^rd Canadian Division hit the flanks of the 12^th SS Panzer Division. They hold, but the troops are reduced to a cadre. Further west, tenacious defense by the 130^th Regiment of Panzer Lehr results in more British tank losses. I have to say, that was some hideous die rolling by me. The 7^th Armored Division (the famed Desert Rats) have taken a beating in this game so far.

Summary

This wraps up the past three days which have seen the Allies push and stretch the Axis lines. Around OMAHA there’s been some serious breaking and the Germans will need to patch up the line somehow, though the US barely has enough troops to exploit the holes. It’s been an impressive slugfest so far as the race for reinforcements continues. The Germans still have an interesting gambit up their sleeves now that Panzer Lehr threw back the British armor across the river they are very close to Arromanches and the Mulberry. My next installment will feature some intense tactical fighting here.

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