The Invasion So Far

After the initial landings pushed the Germans back and secured the beaches, the British repulsed German counter attacks and finished their Mulberry. The US army linked Omaha and Utah by taking Carentan. Both Armies started driving into the interior while the Commonwealth forces focused on Caen and the Americans focused on the peninsula and taking the big port city of Cherbourg.

Cherbourg is pretty much a done deal. All that is left is one more city hex and one last town. The Cottentin army is very much toast and the rest of the line is not faring any better. Instead of containing the Americans at Portball on the western shore of the peninsula, they fell back all the way to Lessay and its airfield. More VP towns south of Carentan fell despite the best efforts of the paratroopers. The rest of the line all the way to the east is a similar story of Axis under-performance compared to the historical line.

This is going to put the Axis in a desperate situation. They will attempt to seek automatic victory by inflicting losses on the Americans and British since it’s starting to look like victory by game score will be impossible.

June 25^th

A Storm rolls in! This is unfortunate for the Allies. This allows Germany to bring up supplies and the bad weather coincides with the arrival of the forward elements of the 9^th SS Panzer division!

The timely arrival of this unit combined with storm conditions and friendly artillery support allows Germany to hit back and cause some big losses, they also take casualties of their own but Der Fuhrer is unconcerned. Everything for the Fatherland!

Despite the major storm, the Allies have such overwhelming firepower in infantry and tanks and the Axis troop quality so poor that the US can set up 3-1 and 4-1 attacks despite the lack of the armor shift and air support. Certain terrain negates the extra combat shift from armor advantage; cities (but not towns), forest, marsh, major rivers and improved positions (which is technically a fortification). The result is Allied liberation of Cherbourg!

The US 9^th Infantry will stay to garrison and keep the remnants of the 243^rd and 709^th divisions out of supply and bottled up in the Yorck strong point. There won’t be any reason to keep tank formations there either. The 90^th and 2^nd Armored will move south to help with the offensive push in the few remaining turns of the game.

The 30^th Infantry, supported by CCR/2, pushes back the 275^th, another instance where bocage terrain makes advancing a little tough. The 29^th Infantry with help from the 744^th tank battalion crushed a cadre of paratroopers and is attempting to reach the highway west of St. Lo. This would siege St. Lo on three sides. Elements from the 5^th Fallschirmjäger division have arrived but may be too late to stop St. Lo from falling.

The 29^th Infantry with help from the 744^th tank battalion crushed a cadre of paratroopers and is attempting to reach the highway west of St. Lo. This would siege St. Lo on three sides. Elements from the 5^th Fallschirmjäger division have arrived but may be too late to stop St. Lo from falling.

The 79^th Infantry assaults more elements from the 353^rd division and inflicts another step loss. Similarly, the 11^th Armoured reduces Panzer Lehr to a cadre. Still, the division has bled itself quite a bit trying to force the issue. The end of the campaign is coming and the Allies may want to husband their remaining units.

The British quickly recall the Guards Armoured Division back to the Caen front to confront the 9^th SS Panzer division and acquits itself quite well disrupting the elite formation with a well-timed counter-attack.

June 26^th

Clear Skies! Not what the Fuhrer wanted! Some replacements have been added to the front lines but for the most part the Germans try to shift their disrupted forces in preparation for a counter-attack. The 1^st Battalion, 9^th Regiment, and 9^th SS Panzer Division make a successful training die roll (arrives only on a 1 or 2) and enter as reinforcements to help the beleaguered remnant of Panzer Lehr.

Nothing much happens here except for the holdouts going OOS. As mentioned in a previous installment, supply is checked at the end of the friendly supply phase. This means your units are put OOS in the previous enemy’s move and then during your whole turn they never got put back into supply. That is the case here. However, the effects won’t start being felt until after the 2^nd consecutive turn OOS when you start rolling on the Isolation Attrition Table.

What this means is that you may isolate an enemy piece on Turn 1. It won’t get a marker until Turn 2 of your opponent’s supply phase, and by Turn 3 it will flip to the red side. Per the rules though, they only roll on the isolation table IF they are adjacent to an enemy unit.

Still, putting an enemy OOS is useful because they generally suffer from 3 bad things:

• Attack at half strength (defense is still at full strength though)
• Can only use Tactical movement (1 or 2 hexes) and can’t be put in reserve.
• Can’t build fortifications (IPs) but can complete ones that were started already.

The Allies are moving more forces down the map. The 30^th Infantry shifts a little so their forces present their strongest units forward. The 746^th Tank battalion is stacked on a reduced regiment behind the river line to help the defense.

The Allies assault St. Lo and manage to inflict a step loss but the 353^rd Infantry division holds on. The other regiment was pushed off the highway by 2^nd Infantry. As a result, the 79^th Infantry used the highway to drive into Torigni-sur-Vire.

The 43^rd Infantry with two full strength regiments attack the 12^th SS in the northwest city of Caen. Tanks from the Canadian 2^nd Armored form the main part of the assault force. Infantry from the Canadian 3^rd Infantry attack in support. The Allies use two artillery points and two air support markers to bring the total attack ratio to 5-1 and roll a DR result.

The Panzergrenadiers make a determined defense and with artillery support of their own manage to hold on to the city by rolling an EX result. They pick a regiment from the 43^rd to take a loss while the SS regiment is reduced to a cadre.

The end is nigh and big units are due next turn. It may depend on the weather but the only way the Axis will win is to inflict crippling losses. We’ll see what happens next turn.

Summary

The US Army took Cherbourg and started moving south with various divisions while leaving the 9^th Infantry to bottle up the remnants of the defenders in a small strongpoint. The 1^st Army made moderate attacks against St. Lo and the defenders barely held on. British forces supported by the Canadians nearly manage to take their 2^nd Caen city hex but the SS troops defend with tenacity.

Despite this effort the situation is grim for Germany. They have lost too many cities and towns south of the June 27^th historical line. Along with Cherbourg the Allies have more than enough victory points to win the game. The 10^th SS Panzer Division arrives on the last turn of the game and the 9^th SS is no longer disrupted. The Germans will roll the dice one final time to snatch victory from the gaping maw of defeat!

---

Previous Article in this Series: Normandy ’44 Campaign AAR Part VIII: June 23rd-24th

Next Article in this Series: Normandy ’44 Campaign AAR Part X: June 27th