D-Day 6th June - Juno Beach - Advance On Creully

Somewhat later than planned, the next game in my narrative French-Canadians in Normandy campaign was played today. Details as follows:

Background

Having quickly taken St Croix-sur-Mer, the Voltigeurs de Quebec Regiment are ordered to push on towards Creully with the aim of seizing it before nightfall, thus achieving the Elm phase line objective. Unbeknown to them, Kampfgruppe Meyer has been sent to try and find a gap between the French-Canadian and British bridgeheads between Juno and Gold beaches respectively. The Kampfgruppe has taken significant casualties as it moves towards Creully, but so have the Voltigeurs de Quebec, who are at half strength in terms of their infantry.

Scenario Details

• The scenario lasts for 8 Turns, starting in the afternoon and ending at around dusk. The last two Turns will have reduced visibility as a result.
• Typhoon air support is available, but this represents the rear area interdiction that happened on D-Day. The Typhoon is available on a roll of 8+ on 2D6.
• The French-Canadians start 20cm in from the table edge, with the Recce units 40cm in, to represent their speedy advance from St Croix-sur-Mer.
• The Germans arrive from Turn 2 using mobile deployment, to represent their struggles moving forward across the British front and in broad daylight.

Voltigeurs de Quebec Regiment OOB

1 x CO (CV90

3 x HQ (CV8)

6 x Infantry (Veterans)

1 x MG

1 x 3" Mortar

1 x 6pdr ATG + tow

1 x Humber AC

1 x Carrier Platoon

2 x Shermans

1 x Sherman Firefly

3 x Priest 105mm SPG

1 x Typhoon

Kampfgruppe Meyer OOB

1 x CO (CV8)

2 x HQ (CV8)

3 x Infantry

1 x MG

1 x 81mm Mortar

1 x Pak 38 + horse tow

1 x Sdkfz 251/10?

3 x Stug III

The Table

An overview of the game below:

Creully sits in a valley, represented by the hills on both sides of the table. 

Creully itself having taken some battle damage already.

The French-Canadians begin to push on towards Creully. One Company of Infantry is allowed to ride on the tanks.

Francois le Fermier gives valuable intel to the Voltigeurs de Quebec CO, but also some Calvados too!

The Germans arrive by a random dice rolls, with the Infantry and Stug III's on the left flank.

The CO arrives in the centre.

Another view of Creully.

The Game

As is the norm now, some annotated photos will give an idea of how the game unfolded:

The end of Turn 2 (In Turn 1 the whole French-Canadian force failed to move, due to the Calvados me-thinks!). Despite the tardy start, soon the Voltigeurs de Quebec had crossed the bridge into Creully and began to take up defensive positions. As they did so Kampfgruppe Meyer arrived and as they came under fire, they managed to KO one Sherman in quick order.

The Trois Rivieres Dragoons come under deadly fire, seeing a Sherman brew up. Not an ideal start. At least the Infantry have debussed and begin to occupy Creully.

One the left flank, a Company from the Voltigeurs de Quebec can only reach the edge of the woods.

The German half-track seeks cover having come under fire from the Humber AC.

The Germand Infantry spread out and advance towards Creully.

The end of Turn 3. The Voltigeurs de Quebec try to consolidate their positions ready for the anticipated German assault. As the Germans push forward, they lose a Stug III and their Infantry come under fire from the churchyard.

The Germans try to advance, but the enemy has taken up strong positions that may be hard to shift.

The churchyard is the setting for the initial firefights.

the humber AC and 6pdr ATG have taken up defensive positions in and around the orchard.

The left flank Infantry move more slowly than their CO would like.

An overview from the German point of view.

The end of Turn 4. So far there has been no sign of any Typhoon support, but a Company HQ manages to get through to the Priest SPGs and call in a devastating stirke right on top of the Germans. Once the dust has settled the Infantry are no more and the Stug III's are burning wrecks!

The German threat has gone up in smoke!

The left flank Infantry cross the stream to come and provide support, which is no longer needed.

The German CO can only look on and ponder what might have been.

End of the Game

And so suddenly it was all over! The artillery had simply been devastating, catching the Infantry in the open as well as the Stug III's. Against so much firepower they didn't stand a chance.

Post Game Thoughts

Well what can I say except that that was extremely quick and very brutal! It was shaping up to be possibly a tough fight for the French-Canadians, but as was often the case, the Artillery came through to break up the German attack. As always a few musings:

• It was nice to get back to this narrative campaign, even if it took longer to set the game up that actually play it!
• As a one off game, this would have been no fun, but as part of a campaign, it just adds to the story, which is what makes campaigns so much fun.
• I possibly gave the French-Canadians too much Artillery for this scenario, but they did have loads on call, as they knew that the ground they would be fighting over was crucial to both sides. In fact they had correctly predicted that this would be the main centre for the German attacks and so it proved to be.
• I did forget that the Germans were on high ground too, so that their 81mm Mortar could have hit the Voltigeurs de Quebec left flank as they left the woods. It wouldn't have affected the outcome of this game, but in campaign terms it might have if the game had lasted longer.
• Playing with a familiar ruleset really does make a difference, as it allows you to tweak things to suit the scenario and the campaign setting. You sort of know what will work most of the time, which just makes things so much easier right across the board. 

What Next?

I certainly need to paint some more AFVs for both sides, given that the next action in the campaign will be against lead elements of the 12th SS 'Hitlerjugend' Panzer Division. There is quite a lot to paint, but with the need to get them ready for the next game will hopefully act as a good incentive and keep me focussed more than normal!

Aside from that, in the run up to Xmas, I'm not sure how much gaming time I will have, but of course some more 'toys on the table' actions would be great, no matter the period.

Thanks for reading and as always any comments greatly appreciated.

TTFN.