Operation Martlet: Attacking the Hauptkampflinie (Table 3, Turn 5)

 The Scots have reached their first major objective, just as the sun begins to fill the wester sky: the main line of German defense, which corresponds with Oberscharfuhrer Mahler’s final hold line. His orders are to hold the village of Fonteney, and he commits his platoon to this end. This being the first phase line objective of the Scots, they are heavily reinforced: a pair of Churchill AVREs, an FOO spotting for a battery of 3” mortars, and one additional PIAT team. Mahler, on the other hand, is less generously supported: extra riflemen and a forward observer. Hopefully his dug in position should make up for their lack of numbers.

The Main German Defensive Line

As Muir’s patrols push towards the chateau, they make it as far as the ornamental garden before they draw fire from the chateau line. Dropping to the ground, they get the impression the Germans are present in the woods south of the crossroad, within the chateau area, and moving along the crossroad. They fall back, reporting to Lt Muir and McKay their findings along with where they drew fire. The platoon leaders feel confident bringing their men up to the garden, the tree line north of the main road, or along the southern flank.

German Jump Off Points

British Jump Off Points

The Scots decide to press on strong, probing through firepower with the AVRE deploying onto the hardened road. Ahead of them McKay has moved towards the low walls with the 2” mortar and Bailey’s section. The riflemen and Bren scan in front of them and the 2” drops a round of smoke into the woods south of the crossroad.

The AVRE maneuvers around towards the south

McKay and Bailey lead a push down the middle

Schildkraut and his gruppe open fire from their defensive position in the farmhouse, two MG-42s ripping towards the Scots in the low walls. The walls do the trick, protecting most of the British troops, though shrapnel peppers Sgt McKay and lays him out - dazed. The rifles and Bren return fire on the farm building, and the Germans duck out of the incoming fire.

All the while, a German observer with Schildkraut’s squad makes notes and starts reaching out to the battery of mortars. With the intensity of incoming Bren and rifle fire, he decides to call for immediate effect. The barrage of 8 cm shells come crashing down, a little closer to his position than he would’ve liked, yet still landing amidst Bailey’s section. A handful of riflemen are caught by the barrage, the low wall providing little cover. The intensity of the barrage blocks the Churchill’s view of the German resistance and he maneuvers his beast further south to try to catch a glimpse of their position. 

Bailey’s section caught by the barrage

All of sudden the barrage ends, having only just begun. Schildkraut’s men again have the Scots in full view, pouring on fire - killing the 2” mortar assistant. McKay dusts himself off and shouts at the 2” and rifle section to get down behind the walls just as the Churchill puts a  spigot mortar round right through the farmhouse window. 

The blast, still ringing in Schildkraut’s ears, is deafening and he sees at least one man dead, but he gets his MGs back to the windows, determined to hold this position to the last. They continue to pour fire even as they see a second Churchill rolling into view along the road. Another AVRE round rocks the house and one of the MG-42 teams is simply no longer there. He hears the forward observer screaming into his radio set, trying to raise the battery while his young men look at him for direction. Knowing he’s digging their grave, he orders the remaining team to keep up their fire. They do so, killing the Scot with the 2”. 

The last thing Schildkraut sees is the blast emanating from the AVRE barrel, followed by nothingness. A third and final Churchill round punches through the farm building, and the building crumbles under its own weight. One single machine gunner and the forward observer stumble out, the observer too dazed to move, the gunner fleeing from the sound of gunfire. Oberscharfuhrer Schildkraut is dead.

The lone survivor from Shildkraut’s gruppe

The Churchill, his target knocked out moves forward to secure the southern wood. Bailey rallies his remaining men, about half his section remaining after the firefight with the late Schildkraut’s men. They’re unable to keep up with the AVRE’s dash for the woods, leaving him without infantry support. As he closes towards the woods, a team with a panzerfaust pops out of their ambush position behind the behemoth. They fire their shot and it bounces off the thick armor exploding uselessly nearby.

Bailey’s section presses to support the AVRE

The AVRE, without infantry support, bounces the panzerfaust

The woods now secure, the British observer deploys along Riley’s section in the tree line to the northeast, ready to bring 3” shells down the moment the opposition reveals itself. All the while, Bailey and his section continue up the stone wall towards the crossroad, to meet up with the Churchill. The behemoth lumbered on, down the stone road to the intersection. Again a two man team armed with a panzerfaust, tucked into one of the alleyways, fired their rocket towards the AVRE but it soared hopelessly past. Unfortunately, this was the last of Mahler’s panzerfausts: two fired and one lost with Scharfuhrer Schildkraut’s squad, leaving his platoon with few options, if any, to deal with the allied armor.

Alleyway ambush!

The AVRE presses on and secures the crossroad, Bailey’s section trailing close behind. As two Churchills approach the chateau, Mahler ushers Scharfuhrer Bergman and his squad into the stone building north of the chateau. The forward observer, recovered from the collapsed building, moves into the chateau where Hering and his squad ready themselves for the oncoming assault - eyeballing the approaching Churchill. 

The situation by the crossroad (Sherman Firefly pretending to be an AVRE)

The Churchill, unsure of the exact location of the German infantry, approaches the cluster of buildings just as the last of Bergman’s squad gets inside the stone building. They set up the opposite direction, planning on engaging the infantry still holding around the northern tree line. As the firefight begins to ramp up, McPhee brings his section to the tree line as the second Churchill maneuvers into a position to support and launches its first shell into Bergman’s squad. Seeing the writing on the wall, the German forward observer calls in a further barrage on the tree line and road, catching Riley’s and McPhee’s sections and blinding their supporting tank. Multiple riflemen are killed and the shelling makes the tank crew quite nervous, the rounds landing all around them.

Further to the south, with the AVRE by the crossroads unsure of the German positions, Bailey realizes that he needs to get the tank commander’s attention and point out the German presence he’s identified in the chateau. To do so, however, he’ll have to cross open terrain that’s under the watch of two German belt-fed LMGs - not a prospect he enjoys. He decides that there’s nothing for it, tosses a smoke grenade to cover his advance and moves for the Churchill. Hering’s two MG-42s open up, killing one of Bailey’s riflemen. 

Bailey’s section preparing their dash to the Churchill

Mid dash - smoke and MG-42 fire

The machine fun fire is all the notice the armor needs and proceeds to fire one shell into the chateau. The shell detonates amidst Hering’s squad, knocking out the squad leader, killing an additional two, and causing the chateau to shake and become quite unstable. Before the dazed remainder of the squad can extricate themselves and their leader from the crumbling building, the roof and floor collapse - killing Scharfuhrer Hering. The rest of his squad flees to the east as the forward observer stumbles out into the courtyard. Through the dissipating smoke, Bailey fires his sten into the forward observer, dropping him on the chateau stairs.

The German observer’s final moments

At the close of the first day, the remaining Germans fall back hastily and with little organization, the only remaining NCOs being Mahler and Bergman, half what they began the engagement with. In total, the Germans lost five men dead including Scharfuhrers Schildkraut and Hering, and two missing in the hasty retreat. The men went from nearly worshiping their platoon leader to just being somewhat appreciative of him, losing two of their squad leaders was a difficult blow. His company leader isn’t so thrilled, he had hoped this position would be held  longer, but Mahler still feels mostly secure, feeling he had put up as tough a fight as he could in the face of the allied might. Lt Muir only lost two dead in the end with two more headed to the regimental aid post for treatment. His commander is pleased with his advance and his men have finally begun to think highly of him. 

The 12 SS have just been informed that their neighboring unit, Panzer Lehr, has fallen back from the full weight of the 49th Infantry Division, and a gap of five kilometers wide has opened. They make the decision to, as is their doctrinal habit, counterattack with the weight of their heavier panzers to try to reestablish and stabilize the line.

Again, I had hoped to stop the Scots here, but the force morale tumble that resulted with the collapsing building forced my men into a disorganized retreat. I had always planned on fighting to the death at this position, but I had hoped to do more damage than I did. I don’t believe I convinced -A- to retire this platoon, which was one of my major goals as I’ll be forced to use my second platoon for the second half of the campaign. Next game will be The Punch from Wünsche, and we’ll see how effective a punch it is!

We played this game about four months ago, so I’m trying to catch up on a backlog of reports. My wife and I have had a busy year so we’re getting some time to play Chain of Command where we can! Hopefully I can get the next report up soon!

Caleb