Defence of Verneuil-Grand, France 1940 (Chain of Command)

Battle 3 of our Chain of Command France 1940 campaign happened the other day. Here is a report of the action. An attack on a town with two plus German platoons against two determined platoons of the Derwents was always going to be a bloodbath...

Unfortunately I didn't get anywhere near enough (barely presentable) pictures of the action, as I was too busy rolling dice.

The campaign map: progress so far.

The battle area according to Google Maps.

Deployment

Ze Germans

With almost no pause after overrunning 7 Platoon, the German Auflkarungs units assault the main British positions on the edge of the town of Verneuil-Grand. The Germans were able to call on up to two motorcycle reconnaissance platoons, a half-platoon of MG34 machine guns on tripods, and a single Sdkfz 222 armoured car. The German assault was also overseen directly by their company commander and his radiomen. (Note: We have house rules that the presence of a company commander or equivalent adds a Red Die to the Command dice and a radio allows a single Command Dice roll of '6' to be turned into a '5' and therefore converted to Chain of Command points).

Ze Tommys

9 Platoon of had been tasked with holding the eastern part of Verneuil-Grand and had been busy digging trenches, filling sandbags and fortifying a prominent building at the edge of the village as a strongpoint, or 'keep' which was to serve as the A Company HQ and a blockhouse against the German advance. Captain Remington was at this moment inspecting the work on the A Company keep and sharing his morning bottle of wine with the 2 Section lads working on the fortifications. Conversation immediately stopped as the lookout announced that 7 Platoon fellows were running into the position, pursued by a Jerry armoured car, with motorcycle troops following right behind!

Overall German scheme of manoeuvre and British defensive deployments.

A Company picked the three-story corner building to fortify as their HQ/keep as it offered good views of the village approaches. (Paper terrain buildings from Dave Graffam Models, Microtactix Battlelands Normandy and Wargame Paper Scenery).

The attack goes in

The German company commander observed his objective through binoculars from a nearby barn roof. Seeing the risk of moving directly down the main street of the town, he deployed his lead platoon to advance up the left of the main road toward the lightly wooded area near the ponds to flank the village, while the heavy machine gun platoon set up amongst some rocks and small trees on overwatch to cover the advance. The Sdkfz 222 proceeded cautiously down the road in support.

Captain Remington immediately had the 7 Platoon men organised into two sections, issued ammo top-ups and sent out to occupy first the right then the left flanks of the Company position while 9 Platoon got ready in the keep and the strongest of the nearby buildings.

The German lead section advances cautiously left of the road while 2 Section, 9 Platoon prepares to fire from the windows of their HQ keep.

Within seconds of the Germans coming into sight, 9 Platoon's men in the keep opened up a fusillade from their rifle and Lewis LMG. German return fire was accurate however, and young Private Oswald Mathers, who had been carelessly peering out the window, was hit in the hand and wounded.

The German machine gun platoon heard the shots and attempted to spot the origin of the fire as they set up their tripod, but just as they did so, several plumes of smoke began pouring from the field in front of them and obscuring the action: 9 Platoon's 2" mortar had spotted the danger and dropped some very precise smoke rounds. Well done Privates Mitchell and Tasker!

7 Platoon survivors defend the pond woods

Combined surviving effectives of 2 and 3 Sections, 7 Platoon (under CPL John Howse. CPL Warrick of 2 Section having gone to the rear for treatment for his wounds), appeared in the woods and gave the Germans a volley. Several Germans were seen to fall, but an additional motorcycle section came up in support and began laying down withering fire on the British, hitting several and inflicting a lot of shock. Additionally, the Vickers MMG on the top floor of the keep started up and attempted to cut down as many Germans in the open as possible. (Their aim was mostly poor, although they did manage to kill a German leader outright).

A Boys AT rifle suddenly appeared in one of the houses and managed to hit the Sdkfz 222 and force it to reverse. However, the armoured car's crew quickly recovered and it returned fire, taking out one of the AT rifle crew.

1 Section, 7 Platoon emerges from the treeline near the ponds and exchanges fire with the advancing Germans, but is soon outnumbered and out-shot.

[Helped by rolling plenty of '6's' on the Command Dice = retained phases] the Germans were able to get a third section into action to flank the keep and overwhelm CPL Howse and the boys with MG and rifle fire which they were simply unable to match. They were soon pinned. Seeing the German axis of attack and hoping to bolster the right flank, Captain Remington ran from the keep and over to help 2 Section, rallying shock. [However, a turn-end that unpinned the section was a double-edged sword. Being unpinned allowed them to get back up and lowered their level of cover just in time to be further machine-gunned by two or three enemy sections].

The Germans outflank the town to the south (the pond woods)

2/3 Section, now down to four effectives, promptly fled, leaving CAPT Remington sitting in some ruins, paralyzed with indecision [I forgot about him for a phase or two].

2/3 Section, outnumbered 3:1, is overwhelmed by enemy fire.

Seizing the opportunity, the German platoon advanced into the pond woods to take control of the British Jump-Off Point there. They also found CAPT Remington in the ruined building and killed him in close combat, though he was able to shoot one or two Germans with his Webley on the way down.

CAPT Remington's defiant last stand. (British WW1 LW Officer from Peter Pig, Germans from Battlefront (I think)).

By this stage, all three sections of 9 Platoon had appeared and all joined the Vickers MMG in the keep in firing at the worst-hit of the German motorcycle recon platoons to try and eliminate them. They did so, but this took longer than it should have due to poor marksmanship and the prudence and steadiness of the German platoon and section commanders [bad firepower dice rolls and successful German activations to remove shock meant it took almost my entire focus for several phases to wipe them out, and after all it only cost the Germans 1 Force Morale].

The north flank

Meanwhile, the second German platoon began charging across the open field to the north of town, where they spotted 1 Section of 7 Platoon in a trench. The German MG34s unfortunately managed to eliminate the 2" mortar team, killing PTE Mitchell and wounding PTE Tasker. Combined fire from the machine guns and the German's lead section on this flank also rapidly began whittling down 1 Section despite the protection of the trench.

1 Section, 7 Platoon, after running to occupy the left flank trench.

(Peter Pig miniatures).

The German's lead section, led by the remarkable Bavarian Faulk Baptiste (who has already come to the attention of his commanders), rapidly advanced into the assault, and in a round of short-range firing and close combat, wiped out the remaining members of 1 Section, wounding then killing CPL Archibald Scully and taking the severely wounded PTE MacDermod POW. The German section took a few casualties but came off lightly. In just one activation and turn-end, Faulk Baptiste managed to destroy a section and Junior Leader, capture a JOP, turn the British left flank, bring their Force Morale to 0 and win the game.

The Germans assault 1 Section's trench.

The Outcome

The Germans managed to achieve a double envelopment south then north of Verneuil-Grand. The relatively unscathed 9 Platoon managed to withdraw through the village and escape, but 7 Platoon, already hard-hit in the last battle, was devastated and is now down to a single section. The platoon lost three killed (including the two Archies: CPL Archibald Scully and PTE Archie MacGregor) and three severely wounded, including one captured. Several others were slightly wounded and sent to the rear.

As expected, the fight was a bloodbath, with the British losing 17 men and even the Germans losing 21.

A Company, 12th Derwents is now down to 2/3rds strength, has lost it's HQ keep and it's Company 2IC and is in full retreat - we are really in trouble here lads. The next battle will feature the German pursuit, and they may run into a surprise (there is a Maginot Line blockhouse overlooking the road behind Verneuil-Grand: hopefully the French are manning it...)

Tactically, this game demonstrated that British sections in the 1939 Regulation platoon are lacking in both numbers and firepower (we are using old Lewis guns instead of Brens too). I may look at upgrading to the 1940 Regulation platoon organisation and getting some proper Bren guns in the next campaign. The 23rd Division, a newly-raised formation, is also of course lacking in support and the Boys AT rifle was underwhelming (although fun to use). So with more German armoured platoons approaching, the CO is going to have to send up a request for proper anti-tank weapons, maybe some artillery or mortars.

And the request will be sent in writing. ... 

Because we still don't have radios or even a telephone!