The Invasion So Far…

In our last after action report, we went through three days of action. We also had our first storm turn playing havoc on Allied supplies and reinforcements, but overall the British moved closer to Caen provoking a lot of punch and counter-punch near that city. The Omaha sector was pretty thinly held and the US 1^st Infantry division along with the US 29^th Infantry basically chewed up the defenders and split the area open with the 1^st Division probing deeper beyond Bayeux, the 29^th Heading west to link up with Utah beach and the recently landed 2^nd Infantry Division pushing southwest towards St. Lo.

As for Utah, the terrain has made the road for Valognes and the ultimate prize of Cherbourg a lot harder going for the 101^st Airborne, 2^nd Armored and 9^th Infantry divisions. Along the south, the 4^th Infantry and 82^nd Airborne divisions ran up against stubborn German paratroopers at Carentan; a vital piece of real estate necessary for linking up the American beach heads.

June 11^th

Shifting the line a little, 21^st Panzer Division and 12^th SS Panzer Division force back the Canadians from Épron. Panzer Lehr attacks 4^th Armored Brigade and sends them reeling to Arromanches. The mulberry is in danger! An infantry brigade and a small cadre from the 7^th Armored are the only forces that can help!

The OMAHA and CAEN sectors are now starting to bleed into each other. Unlike other games where you tend to see perfect cooperation between British and American forces, in this game each side must conduct attacks on its own. They aren’t allowed to combine attacks with each other’s units. However, nothing prevents you from attacking first with some US divisions and then follow up with British ones. Which I use to great effect in the picture above.

The Allied counter attacks were swift. The US 1^st Infantry Division shifted east and punched the flanks of Panzer Lehr. The British 6^th Airborne and 2^nd Canadian Armored hit the other flank. Finally, the motorized regiment from the 7^th Armored created the pocket. The British 50^th Infantry Division nearly collapsed it! Most of Panzer Lehr is surrounded!

In the Omaha sector 2^nd Division moves into the line and with 4th Cavalry hit the 77th Division. 29th Infantry forces the major crossing on the Vire River. The German paratroopers are wiped out! Only one regiment remains to defend Carentan. The 6^th Fallschirmjäger (Paratrooper) Division was annihilated battalion by battalion, regiment by regiment, until practically nothing is left! It’s sobering to see just how punishing the Allies can be when backed up by air, artillery and naval assets.

All the way over on UTAH the 60^th Infantry Regiment from the 9^th Infantry Division has started disembarking. In this game the US Infantry divisions consists of three regiments each. The way the Allies bring in more reinforcements through the beaches is thanks to reinforcement points (RP). They are country specific with the US and Britain receiving 6 points each per turn, but no more than 4RP may disembark at one each at a time. This is more significant for the US Army than the British Army (their beaches are relatively close, the US forces landed far apart!)

June 12th

Storms hit again! 21st Panzer Division keeps pushing back Canadian 3rd Division. 12th SS Panzer Division pulls Panther battalion back from the line for refit. Panzer Lehr makes a desperate push for Arromanches but is repulsed and loses their Panther tanks.

An interesting wrinkle to the combat modifiers I have mentioned before is that when you benefit from them, your losses must include units that contributed the benefits. You can’t waive a benefit to try to protect a unit either. If you don’t want a unit to be a casualty don’t include them in the battle! For the most part the owner of the combat forces will choose losses but sometimes an attacker gets to choose and quite often a defender will have chances as well depending on the exact combat result. Whenever you have a choice to eliminate enemy units, taking out armor first is a sound choice because those are much harder to replace than infantry.

17th SS Panzer Division rolls in along the highway and gives 2^nd Infantry a nasty welcome. The soldiers give as good as they get and one Panzergrenadier regiment takes heavy losses. However, the cost was considerable as the regiment is reduced to a cadre of troops. Let’s talk about that cadre for a moment.

In the picture, you can see a unit with name “Cadre”. That’s an element of the US 2^nd Infantry Division. At this scale, most regiments (or brigades in the British case) actually have three steps worth of strength. When they take a hit, you flip them over and now they have two remaining (they show a thin white stripe). When they are on their last step, you must use a generic “Cadre” unit and put the actual one on a chart display (units with one step remaining have a thicker stripe). If you don’t have a “Cadre” available, the unit is permanently eliminated! As part of the automatic German victory conditions, they must to try to eliminate or reduce to “Cadre” a target number of US and British regiments and brigades. Canadians are exempt because they get no respect from the Germans. J

Actually, in his designer notes Simonitch pointed out that he wanted to give the British some forces they could use as “shock troops” without the casualty penalty.

The 82^nd Airborne has been out on a limb! The 91^st Division attacks and pushes back another regiment. The 243^rd Division moves in to block the paratroopers and prevent them from cutting off the Peninsula. The 507^th will fall back to avoid the risk of being cut out of supply.

The 51^st Division and Guards Armored Brigade take turns hitting 21^st Panzer Division trading casualties. Panzer Lehr is annihilated by the 50^th Division. Only one Panzergrenadier regiment and tank battalion remain of the once powerful Panzer Division.

The 4^th and 29^th Infantry divisions decimate the paratroopers from the 6^th Fallschirmjäger division. Carentan is surrounded but holding so far.

Meanwhile the 101^st Airborne and 9^th Infantry continue cleaning up the coast. The 2^nd Armored division – supported by paratroopers – takes out another battalion from 709^th Division.

Summary

The bold move by Panzer Lehr to reach Arromanches and destroy the mulberry failed. It would have definitely crippled the Allied efforts to prosecute the offensive aimed at Caen. This was a case where the flanks lacked the infantry to hold against a counter attack by Allied forces. It didn’t help that the weather cleared up immediately (storms are fickle).

Now that the threat has passed and the Mulberry will soon finish the British can now reorganize and expand their front line to increase the pressure on the Germans. In the west the US seems to be hurting for more infantry after opening Omaha, it may take a few turns before they have enough forces to really push south towards St. Lo, especially since the 17^th SS is now in the area. Over at Utah the 82^nd has bitten off more than they can chew and won’t be able to cut off the peninsula in a coup de main. The focus has shifted to taking Carentan to link the beaches while 101^st Airborne supports attacks by 2^nd Armored and 9^th Infantry to prosecute the drive on Cherbourg which necessarily passes through Valognes. Our next part will see how the Allies try to accomplish these objectives.

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