Spearhead: Lebisey, 7 June 1944

Another day, another Spearhead battle report - this time the battle at Lebisey on 7 June 1944 where 3rd Division tries to break through  21st Panzer's defences in the Lebisey woods to reach Caen. This was based on Scenario 2 of the Rapid Fire Normandy Battlegames/Battlegroups books, available via Wargames Vault. They are well worth a purchase, as they are balanced games with objectives that are achievable by either side.

British OOB

Regimental HQ (Regular)
1 - HQ Stand

1st Battalion, Suffolk Regiment
1 - HQ Stand
1 - 6pdr ATG/Truck
1 - 3" Mortar/Truck
1 - Carrier Platoon (Rifle if Dismounted)
4 - Companys (of 3 Rifle Stands)
1 - MG Platoon

2nd Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment
1 - HQ Stand
1 - 6pdr ATG/Truck
1 - 3" Mortar/Truck
1 - Carrier Platoon
4 - Companys (of 3 Rifle Stands)
1 - MG Platoon

East Lancashire Regiment
1 - HQ Stand
1 - 3" Mortar/Truck*
1 - 4.2" Mortar/Truck*
3 - Companys (of 3 Rifle Stands)

7th Field Regiment
4-Priest (2 batteries) - off table
2 - OP Team

Staffordshire Yeomanry
2 - Sherman 75
1 - Sherman Firefly

41st AT Battery (Regular)
1 - Achilles (17pdr)
1-M10

German OOB

Regimental HQ (Regular)
1 - HQ Stand

1st Battalion, 125th Panzergrenadiers
1 - HQ Stand
3 - Companys (of 3 Rifle Stands)
3-HMG
1-Sdkfz 251 37mm ATG
1 - Marder III
1- Grille 150mm SP Gun
1-SP AA Gun 20mm

2nd Battalion 915th Grenadiers (Regular)
1 - HQ Stand
3 - Companys (of 3 Rifle Stands)
3 - HMG
1 - Marder III (AT only at upper range at -1)
1-SP AA Gun 20mm
1-Sdkfz 251/2 Mortar Halftrack

352nd AT Battalion (Regular)
2-Panzer IVH 75mm  (AT only at upper range at -1)
1-Panzer IIIF

 

At the start of the game, only one German Battalion was on-table...they deployed in line with the intention being that when the reinforcements turned up, they could form a second line and plug the holes!

It was the weakest British Battalion that came on first, and they focussed their attention on the(ir) right hand side, hoping to force the Germans to reveal all of their positions.

 

It is tricky for the British, as until the Germans fire, they needed to get within 300 Yards to spot them (i.e., 3"). As the gaps between terrain was more than that, it meant sending a squad across open ground. Fortunately, they had already spotted a German half-track, so didn't have to carry on the 6" per turn mandatory advance for being under attack orders.

 

Mind you, a change of orders would have been difficult to say the least, as the British Commander chose to walk directly up the road (never but your command arrow up the road!!!) shouting in a loud voice I'm here, shoot me....well it seemed like that, 'cos the Germans promptly did!

 

 

By the time the British reserves arrived, there were several holes in the German line.

 

Both sides deployed their indirect support, the British some 4.2" and 3" mortars, whilst the Germans had a 150mm Infantry Gun.

 

Unfortunately, that was it for the Jerries, the British, however, had access to 4 x Priest 105mm guns off table.

 

With both sides reserves finally on the table, the British worked on stretching the German defences where they could.

 

The Germans, on the other hand, advanced as far as the Chateau and Orchards. 

 

Casualties on both sides began to mount up, and the German reinforcements took the fateful decision to counterattack on one flank, rather than wait for the British to break through.

 

The British first Battalion broke, but unfortunately for the Germans, so did their front line...it was a rather inopportune moment for the Germans, and their counterattack found itself out on a limb.

 

One of the two remaining British Battalions was able to advance unopposed towards their objective.

 

 

It is very difficult to undertake a retreating action in Spearhead, so that was it! Game over!

Conclusion

Another excellent game, though I (as German C-in-C) felt I played like a muppet, underestimating how long the front line could hold for, and how long it would take me to redeploy if things went wrong.

 

Spearhead rally lends itself to this kind of "smaller" game - there is a different type of cautiousness as you try to protect your support assets. The British players did this particularly well.
 

Spearhead: Villiers-le-Sec

Next year is the 75th anniversary of a number of the major events of WW2, and always one to plan ahead, I have been working my way through several rule sets as part of the preparation for several large games I am planning to commemorate the events.

World War 2 is a particularly difficult period to get the balance between playability and realism right, so after several false starts, I have returned to one of the first sets I ever played - Spearhead by Arty Conliffe.

I've worked through a couple of small scale games to get my head around the rules, and iron out any problems - so now they were in my head (and it is amazing how much stuff I used to get wrong I have found given I have now actually read them!) it was time for a bigger game.

Scenario: Villier-le-Sec, 6th June 1944

I lifted the scenario from the Rapid Fire Normandy Battlegames book - it is scenario 1, which is a hold one village whilst attacking the other scenario for both sides. It involves the DLI, so has local connections for me, and and is interesting as it was the battle where Stan Hollis got his Victoria Cross - he was the only person to be awarded a VC on D-Day.

The table was 4' x 3', 1" representing 100 Yards. Rapid Fire scenarios scale very well to about half their table size. I double checked my measurements on Google Maps, and it was spot on.

The following two images show the road out of Villiers-le-Sec

This image shows the approach to Crepon:

You can see how difficult it is, in June with high crops, you can image the restrictions on vision!

Order of Battle

GERMAN

Regimental HQ (Regular) - Arrive Turn 2
1 - HQ Stand

6th Battalion DLI (Regular) - Deploy at Crepon
1 - HQ Stand
1 - 6pdr ATG/Truck
1 - 3" Mortar/Truck
1 - Carrier Platoon (Rifle if Dismounted)
4 - Companys (of 3 Rifle Stands)
1 - MG Platoon

8th Battalion DLI (Regular) - Arrive Turn 2
1 - HQ Stand
1 - 6pdr ATG/Truck
1 - 3" Mortar/Truck
1 - Carrier Platoon
4 - Companys (of 3 Rifle Stands)
1 - MG Platoon

9th Battalion DLI (Regular) - Arrive Turn 3
1 - HQ Stand
1 - 3" Mortar/Truck
4 - Companys (of 3 Rifle Stands)

124th Field Artillery (Regular) - Arrive Turn 4
2 - 25pdr (deployed to rear of Crepon) - 6 Fire Missions
1 - OP Team

4th/7th RDG (Regular) - Arrive Turn 3 (attach to any On-Table Battalion)
2 - Sherman 75
1 - Sherman Firefly

41st AT Battery (Regular) - Arrive Turn 5 (attach to any On-Table Battalion)
1 - Achilles (17pdr)
1 - M5 Stuart (37mm) (Recee)

GERMAN

Flak Battalion (Regular) - Deploy at Villiers-le-Sec
1 - 88mm Flak (no tow)
2 - 20mm Flak (no tow)

Regimental HQ (Regular) - Arrive Turn 2
1 - HQ Stand
1st Battalion 915th Grenadiers (Regular) - Arrive Turn 2
1 - HQ Stand
3 - Companys (of 3 Rifle Stands)
2 - HMG
1 - 81mm Mortar
1 - 120mm Mortar/Truck
1 - 75mm Infantry Gun/Truck

2nd Battalion 915th Grenadiers (Regular) - Arrive Turn 3
1 - HQ Stand
3 - Companys (of 3 Rifle Stands)
2 - HMG
1 - 81mm Mortar
1 - 120mm Mortar/Truck
1 - 75mm Pak 40/Truck

352nd Artillery Regiment (Regular) OP Arrives Turn 4
2 - 105mm (off-table)
1 - OP Team

352nd Pioneers (Regular) - Arrive Turn 2
1 - HQ Stand
3 - Engineers Rifle/Flame
3 - Rifle
2 - HMG
1 - 81mm Mortar

352nd AT Battalion (Regular) - Arrives Turn 5 (attach to any On-Table Battalion)
2 - Stug 75mm
1 - Marder III

The Game

The British 6th Battalion deployed at Crepon, with defend orders, whilst the British 8th Battalion, supported by Ant-Tank units advanced under attack orders on (their) left flank, with the intention of sweeping left onto the village of Villier-le Sec.

The 9th Battalion, with armour attached, had orders to advance on (their) right flank as far as the hedgerow, then revert to defend orders, and give support fire.

The German 1st Battalion was ordered to advance into Villier-le-Sec, whilst on the German right flank, the 2nd Battalion and the Pioneers were ordered to attack the village of Crepon.

Because the respective advances were down the same flank through cornfields (they look like plough in the images, but they represent crops) they basically stumbled into each other when they are 300 yards apart - once of the nice quirks about Spearhead is that you must follow orders until you sight the enemy, which because of the crops, meant 3"...!

The resulting combats were brutal, with all German armour destroyed, as well as the British Anti-Tank units...the last stug and the achillies, both stationary, destroyed each other at the same time!
Losses mounted up on the German side though, and when they had taken 50% casualties, the 915th Grenadiers broke. The Pioneers were also approaching breaking point, and the German attack was nullified.

The other British Battalion, supported by Shermans, then advanced on the German village.
We called it at this point, as it was a clear British victory.

Observations

This was a fantastic game, everything I wanted from the rules - we learned a few things as well. Bob (the German player) realised early in the game that he has misdeployed his 88, and it didn't fire a shot in the entire game as it never had line of sight.

Also, because he deployed in depth (Pioneers in the front, Grenadiers to the rear) he had numerous problems making his suppport units as effective as they should have been - in Spearhead, support units can fire through their original fighting Battalions...it is an abstraction to simulate the close co-operation between battalions and their support units.

Lessons learned!

For my part, as British player, I got the tactics just about right - support units (HMGs, Ant-Tank guns and tanks) all working well with mortars to nullify the Germans. 6th Battalion took heavy losses, but the British had 2 Battalions remaining to win the day.

Chain of Command

I've been looking for a set of WW2 rules for a couple of different scales, first for my 15mm figures I am looking for something which gives a game that is approx 1:1, and secondly, I am after something for larger combined arms games using my 10mm figures, of which I have gazillions.



I am settled on going back to Battlefront WW2 for the larger games, from the Fire and Fury guys, and will write about this later in the year once I've done some rebasing, but for now, I am taking a look at Chain of Command from Too Fat Lardies.

I've been reading the Chain of Command rules now for a few weeks, and what I particularly like is that the ground scale is 12" = 40 Yards, meaning 15mm is 2 yards...almost exactly the correct groundscale for 15mm figures. Box duly ticked!

I put together a small game as a rules tryout, using the Patrol Scenario (number one in the rulebook).





Forces

Germans were:

PLATOON HQ: Senior Leader with Machine Pistol

SQUADS x3: Junior Leader with Machine Pistol, 1 Panzerfaust: LMG Team: MG34, 2 Crew, 1 Rifle; Rifle Team: 6 Rifle

They had 3 support points, and took an adjutant and a Panzerschreck Team (2 man crew).

Russians were:

PLATOON HQ: Senior Leader with Pistol

SQUADS x3: Junior Leader with SMG; LMG with 2 Crew; 7 Riflemen

They had 6 support points and took a T34/76.



The Game

After the patrol face, and jump off points sorted, Russians took the first go - they managed to establish a very early firebase in the woods, covering quite a wide area. The Germans were always on the back foot, and the German player missed an opportunity to establish two firebases to target the woods.

 

 



It is easy to under-estimate how much this affected the game...the German player spent the rest of the battle playing catch-up, and lost numerous troops whilst trying to do this...the one bright spot being the destroying of the Russian tank with a panzerschreck, used in ambush with a CoC Dice....it wasn't just destroyed, it actually exploded showering an adjacent rifle team with bits of metal!

Eventually though, the Russian fire ground down the Germans, and that was that.







Conclusions

I made a couple of mistakes in the game, the main ones being forgetting the German national characteristic, which would have helped with firepower, and also that the Panzerschreck team should have been included, so more support points were available than they had.

Overall though, we all enjoyed the game - historical tactics are rewarded, and unlike some games, you can't just run across an open field, or use your tanks unsupported!

Very enjoyable!