Operation Martlet: Probe Into Fonteney III (Table 1, Turn 3)

 With the morning mist burned off, Lt Muir presses his platoon once more into the breach - this time with the full support of his CO and as much command and control as he can hope for. With six men dead and two still being patched up, he’s provided with an additional infantry section, an attached Forward Observer from the mortar battery, and once more - a Churchill AVRE. Oberscharfuhrer Mahler, having lost only two men, can only dig in.

With the noon sun beaming down on the fields ahead of them, Lt Muir sends Sgt McKay with Cpl McPhee and Cpl. Murdoch’s sections through the wheat once more, Murdoch’s section scanning the trees ahead while McPhee’s moves forward. Crept into the wheat alongside them, the Forward Observer Officer (FOO). Behind them, a Churchill AVRE presses up the road, their spigot mortar at the ready.

The Scots press through the wheat

To counter the oncoming threat, Scharfuhrer Hering deploys his squad of two MGs into the slit trenches that they dug into the woods, the point of such pivotal fighting in the last two British attacks. The AVRE, seeing the movement in the woods beyond them, lobs a shell at the Germans in the woods. The HE round rocks Hering’s squad, but the trench kept the men alive. Simultaneously, a mortar round lands in the woods - a ranging shot. Hering yells at his men to get down just as the mortar shells rain down on the woods, bursting the trees, turning them into splinters and shrapnel. 

Initially the trench provides good protection to the pinned machine-gunners, but eventually one 3” mortar shell lands in one of the trenches, wiping out the two men inside.

The shelling in the forest

Under the cover of the barrage, the Scots move forward in good order. Cpl Riley and his section deploy into the wheat on overwatch, allowing the other two sections to press forward. Scharfuhrer Bergman deploys into the compound, but quickly falls back in the face of the oncoming sections supported by the British armor. The fourth, attached, British section deploys on the western edge of the push, commanded by Lt Muir himself. Moving towards the compound, exploiting the opening left by Bergman’s squad, they prepare to break for the edge of the known German line.

Lt Muir leads a section to the edge of the German outposts

The Scots continue to press their advance, the German’s falling back, failing to find an opportunity to strike back on the onrush of combined arms. All of the British sections now press forward, with Riley, his men, and the Churchill pressing through the grass, just skirting the barrage. 

Just as Lt Muir and the section he’s taken command of nears the edge of the known German position, the shelling of the woods stop. With the barrage finished, and Muir pressing towards their objective, Riley fires on the newly exposed, and desperately shocked Germans in the woods. Their fire has little effect, except for knocking out Hering cold. However, in their attempt to strike some last blows on the retreating Germans, they didn’t notice a MG42 team, laying in wait in the tall grass. One of Scharfuhrer Shildkraut’s teams pop out of the grass and lay into Riley’s exposed section. They vanish back into the swaying grass, as three Brits lay on the ground. 

MG42 team ambushes through the tall grass

With that final blow, the Germans leave the field, the Brits having successful secured their foothold into Fonteney. All said and done, the Scots have lost one man dead, and another who’s going to need to spend some time behind the line at the aid post. Both the CO and the men of the platoon feel pretty good about how this attack went, their opinions starting to recover after the first two assaults. With this turn, Muir is feeling quite cheerful. The Germans lost one man dead, and two more to be patched up for a bit. Mahler’s CO, while still confident in him, is starting to waver. The men on the other hand, couldn’t be happier with him, and Mahler begins to feel quite secure in himself, having given ground in order.

Once again, my brother was in town and teamed up with my wife to push the Germans from their defenses on the edge of town. They used their support and the lack of mist to good effect, bringing overwhelming weight to bear on the few Germans outside of the barrage, able to fight. I had planned on giving up this table on this turn, just trying to bloody some noses on my way out. The barrage forced me to stay longer than I would’ve liked, but I was able to launch that final ambush at the end, which gave me the final punch that I wanted.

I’ve been out of town for both work and personal reasons quite a bit lately, but A and I have been able to get the following game knocked out, and we’re now in the middle of our fifth game. With some luck, I’ll have two more AARs out soon. Additionally, I’m still chopping away at my ACW forces, two units of Union line, and one of Confederate line done. Slowly but surely!


Caleb

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