Back to La Cambe!
B Company's woes continue. The three platoons of the Company have each had an attempt to take the hamlet of La Cambe and each time they have been rebuffed. Casualties have been high, but it is time for the company to make one last attempt. It its getting close to late morning and La Cambe should have fallen hours ago.
Elsewhere the 175th Regiment are not having a good time of it. Colonel Goode has been shaken by the resistance of the German army and has become a little shaky. So much so, in fact that he has started to dig in, worried that a counter attack will drive him back to the sea.
At the end of the last game Colonel Goode's outlook had dropped to nervous
Time to get Brig. Cota on the scene!
"What the goddam hell is happening here Colonel?!" The handful of men in the temporary command post jumped to attention as Brigadier Cota stormed in. Colonel Goode blinked once or twice in surprise.
"General! We...er...we're facing stiff resistance on the advance. It looks like the enemy are fighting back. My lead company have taken casualties and also are reporting 88mm flak fire. I've sent a company from 2nd Battalion to silence them and am beginning to dig in here, sir. We need to get more support before we can push forward."
"No, no, no. Goddam it Colonel. No waiting. We need to link the beachheads up immediately! Get your force moving and take La Cambe. No digging in. Movement, what is needed! Action! Not siting about on our asses! Get it done Colonel! Fire the goddam company commander if he can't do his job!"
Colonel Goode blinked again. was the Brigadier mad? The invasion was going badly and he was sure a massive German counter attack was coming.
"Don't stand there blinking at me man!" Brigadier Cota shouted. "Get moving!"
After the Brigadier's tirade, Colonel Goode stiffens his resolve, and his outlook moves up by one. He is now worried.
Meanwhile further up the road, the men of B Company get the order to attack again....
Captain Whyte handed the radio receiver back to his RTO. Colonel Goode had just ordered another attack. He looked around at his two surviving platoon commanders.
"Let me take a platoon forward." LT Derrick the B Company XO asked. "If you leave it to Hendry, you'll get another platoon chewed up, and Morrison still seems too shaken to be any use. Captain Whyte thought for a moment, then nodded. "Sure. Take 6 Platoon - they're mostly intact. Make up the numbers from volunteers and the company HQ. Get it done Derrick.
So, the Company XO takes 6th Platoon forward. Derrick was a pre-war solider promoted from the ranks. The Platoon sergeant remains - S/SGT Kentner. Two of the Squad leaders are also combat ready - SGT Dean in charge of 1st Squad, and the older SGT "Pops" Herbert in charge of 3rd squad. 2nd Squad was commanded by SGT Connor who took a round to the leg in the first game and has spent the past few games hiding in a ditch by the road. He has finally crawled back to the company to be patched up by the medics. His spot as 2nd squad commander has been taken by SGT Ericson from the Company HQ section.
This time I have more support than I know what to do with. But as mentioned in previous games sometimes having too much support can be a problem as you don't have the command dice to activate everyone. Anyway, for this game I take 3 shermans, a 50 cal., a 30. cal, a flame thrower and the forward artillery observer. I also give extra BARs to the squads.
In planning terms I am going to use the FOO to blast a way through any German resistance and try and move a jump off point forward where I can to cut down the amount of ground I have to cover. I don't generally like using the artillery barrage, but needs must! So, onto the game!
The Patrol Phase ended up slightly different than before. I messed up the initial moves and so lost out on my usual base in the house on the right flank. After some thought Sigur managed to get a jump off point there. Clearly while B Company were sorting themselves out, the Germans decided to check out the building and take it over. I did manage to get a jump off point behind the burnt out wreck of the tank that was knocked out in the first game and which has sat blocking the road ever since.
Unfortunately for me, US force morale was low at 9 points. Clearly the beating B Company had taken didn't make the men particularly keen to fight again. By comparison, the Germans, pleased with holding off the entire US army, are at a comfortable 11. It's going to be tough. Again.
As before the US forces begin their advance. Given the disasters that have befallen them on the right flank they decide to focus on the centre and left for this attempt.
A squad under SGT Dean and with LT Derrick move up behind the burnt out tank, with a Sherman in support. There appears to be a lack of Germans so the advance continues. The squad under SGT Dean rushes towards the farmhouse on the right flank. They don't fancy a squad of Germans popping up there and firing into the flank. On the left flank the squad under SGT Ericson appears. everything looks quite so Ericson orders two men forward to scout out the ground. More tanks arrive in support. Everything seems to be going to plan, LT Derrick thinks.
SGT Dean's squad captures the German jump off point in the building, and the Germans take a hit to their force morale.
The US advance continues. The scout team rushes forward....
...while American firepower builds with the arrival of the 50. cal and the FOO.
.... and ultimately bring out the Germans who open fire. But their fire is pretty desultory and only gun down one of the scouts
The remaining scout, who can't believe his luck, hits the deck only to be shot shortly after.
The German forces have now revealed their firing positions
and the US armored might moves forward.
The Germans deploy their PAK40 to try and hold of the tank advance. But the rounds do little damage other than shock the crew, although the gunner is also killed. With a nice group of Germans in sight, LT Pryor the FOO, orders up some artillery. Not bothering with a ranging shot he orders "Fire for effect!"
Mortar rounds plaster the ground in front of the barn then the battery adjusts fire until the strike hits the barn itself. German troops out in the open scarper for cover.
But my poor artillery luck strikes again and the turn ends, along with my barrage. I do have a piece of luck though in that the Jump off point in the farmhouse isn't recaptured by the Germans in time, so Sigur is down to two Jump off points.
I think about keeping the barrage going but both Sigur and I have enough chain of command points to negate each others actions and, ultimately, he has one more than me so, the barrage remains regardless. That is somewhat annoying as I could have done with barrage going on for longer.
While the tank on the US left flank is still taking hits from the PAK40 as the commander tires to switch out the gunner, his companion tank decides to rush up the road in an effort to gain ground. The PAK 40 switches his aim to this new threat but misses to start with - a blast from the off-table 88mm guns also misses. The tank commander thinks he's going to make it, when a lucky hit from the PAK40 takes it out, killing the entire crew. The burning wreck rumbles off the road and into a drainage ditch.
However, the US forces are now emboldened. I use a chain of command point to move my jump off point forward behind the remains of the tank and deploy a squad let by SGT "Pops" Herbert. On the US right flank the squad that captured the jump off point in the farmhouse moves forward, as does the one on the left flank.
As the two squads meet in the road, another squad of Germans appear.
Having no more chain of command points, I can't bring in another barrage unfortunately - Sigur would just end it, but hopefully this quantity of troops will get the job done regardless.
On the US left flank, the PAK 40 finally takes out the tank, causing the crew to bail out. The PAK 40 crew has slowly been whittled down though by tank fire and the supporting 50.cal.
On the right flank, the 30.Cal opens fire on the Germans in the orchard with little effect. But this could be it though. With Dean's squad acting as a firebase, SGT "Pops" Herbert orders his squad to rush forwards.
The Germans are getting worried now. The remains of the squad in the barn, despite their shell shock, rush around the building, supported by colleagues in the upstairs of the barn.
The Germans in the bunker in the orchard also see the threat and crawl slowly from their trenches, 30. Cal rounds occasionally whistling past their heads.
Urging his troops on SGT Herbert, can see the end in sight....
But then as so often, things go horribly wrong. This gets complicated so I'll have to steal Sigur's detailed overview.
SGT Herbert's squad rushes up the road, taking casualties and just falls short, by a couple of inches. As the German squad vacates its position in the orchard SGT Dean's squad rushes forwards to occupy the entrenchments...or would do if they can get over the hedge!
On the US left flank, the squad under SGT Ericson storms the PAK40 emplacement killing the remaining crew and junior leader. In turn Ericson's squad is gunned down by the Germans in the barn with SGT Ericson being wounded.
With SGT Herbert's squad on the road stalled by gunfire from both the left and the right, SGT Dean's squad on the right flank assaults into the orchards, checking the entrenchments for any Germans. Not seeing any, one team of Dean's squad pushes further right through the trees in an attempt to get off the table from that side.
The weight of fire is too much for Herbert's squad, who break and run. Herbert himself lies wounded as his men flee. With the threat from the US left flank and centre neutralized, the German squad pulls back into the the orchard, shooting as they go. This causes sufficient casualties for US force morale to collapse and the survivors retreat once more....
The battlefield at the end of the game
----
Gah! So close, and yet so far! This was another really tense and exciting game, and I came so close to victory. Taking out the German jump off point in the farmhouse and moving my own jump off point forward really worked well. That allowed me to have a nice force of US troops halfway up the table, which were a real threat. But the dice ultimately went against me. Towards the end when the fighting was at its hardest and my squads were reduced to teams, I never rolled any ones which would have allowed teams to move rather than squads. As such the two teams of Herbert's squad were pinned in place and whittled down. The other two squads ended up taking a lot of punishment as well.
My plan to use the barrage was good but as in previous games the barrage just didn't last long enough. The concept was right it just wasn't executed well. I could have ended up in a pointless battle of chain of command dice to keep it going, but ultimately wouldn't have beaten Sigur. Once I used my last chain of command point to move my Jump off point forward behind the tank, I didn't get any more for the rest of the game which made the final push just that bit harder.
As always Sigur played a blinder of a game, focusing firepower where it was needed. The early loss of one of his jump off points was annoying but not fatal. He did lose his PAK40 however, and I get the sense that this time round he was under a lot more pressure. But ultimately he prevailed and the US are defeated again.
Although 6 Platoon survived the first game relatively unscathed, they took 26 casualties this time round. 13 are killed outright along with one of the engineers and the crew of one of the Sherman tanks. 7 more are too wounded to fight and the remaining 6 crawl back to the US lines to be patched up.
175th Roll of Honor
LCPL Ryben 175th Infantry KIA
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