Google Map : Juno, Sword, Langrune-sur-mer & Caen

This is a Normandy scenario, dated 6 June 1944, D-Day. The 4th Commando Brigade moved towards Langrune-sur-Mer and into elements of a Panzer division. They radioed the French Canadians nearby for help and they joined the fight on Turn 4.

On the far north (left on-screen) of this board is a big patch of woods. As you move towards the south it’s vast tracts of open ground with little patches of grain and orchards. There’s a village on the south (right) with a lot of rowhouses and stone walls.

The commandos setup on the left at the edge of the woods. The Germans setup in the village. The commandos are assault engineers and so they get smoke grenades at 4 or less. They get some demolition charges and a 51” mortar. The French Canadians bring in a couple more mortars and heavy machine guns later on, also from the north.  The Germans get a heavy machine gun, a medium machine gun and a few light machine guns plus a 50” mortar.

The Germans have 3 fortified hexes in 3 different stone buildings. The Commonwealth wins immediately when they control 2 or more buildings that contain fortified hexes. Takezo played the Germans while I played the Commonwealth.

This is Allied Turn 1 :  the commandos started making the trek over the divide.  The mortar fired off a smoke round down the road where the German HMG pointed at.  I hoped to feint a left (east) and head right (west) when the French Canadians show up on Turn 4.  I made the mistake of putting the mortar too far back though.  Later on in the game it was unable to support the push.

Allied Turn 2 : My hero rushed up with a demolition charge to draw some fire away from his brothers.  He got than that.  He ran into a hidden German half squad in the woods and got shot by the Germans holed up in the buildings from the middle of the board.  The British sniper was very active as well, hitting the same stack of Germans at the top of the map multiple times!

Allied Turn 4 and the French Canadians arrived at the scene.  There were a number of German MG and a mortar (in that roundabout) to content with, hence the entry was crowded and disorganised.  The commandos threw smoke grenades to cover their approach the best they could.  The British mortar was embarrassingly out-of-place.  By this time it was quite clear that the schwerpunkt was coming from the right (bottom).

Axis Turn 5 : the Germans were moving back and to the west (bottom).  The lead Commonwealth troops moved fast enough to harassing the retreating Germans.  

Allied Turn 7: there was a bit of drama with the Germans holed up on level 1 of a stone building.  Earlier shots pushed them towards being fanatic.  Rounds after rounds of fire couldn’t touch them.  The French Canadians figured they would give it a last try with a feeble little 50″ mortar.  Guess what?  They rolled snake eyes and got a critical hit!!  The crowd went wild (to the extend PBeM could..).  As the dice gods would have it : they then rolled boxcars for the IFC resolution …. I swore I heard my British counters groan from their boxes.

The Commonwealth troops, close behind the retreating Germans, moved to have them encircled.

Allied Turn 8 DFPh and I was out of time : Tazeko revealed where the Fortified hexes were after the last Allied Movement Phase.  The Commonwealth troops would end up advancing into 1 out of 3 of the fortified buildings as opposed to the 2 required by the victory conditions.

For those of you who played this before, you are right, there’s a slight mistake here.  The 3 fortified hexes should be in 3 different stone buildings.  Oh well, a game is a game!

Going forward there are a few things I will do differently as the attacker :

• move forward more aggressively, seek to push the boundaries and set the tempo as opposed to having the tempo dictated to by the defence.
• have the mortars move up together with the troops.
• if I am to play this scenario as the attacker again, my commandos will seek to push up a lot further to allow the French Canadians space and cover to get on the board easier

Any thoughts and/or advice, please comment!

Resources : Joss Attridge’s “Point of the Sword (ASL102)” in HullDown.Org

Eglise de Langrune sur Mer, Calvados, France (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A German prisoner captured by Canadian troops at Langrune sur Mer, 7 June 1944. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Headquarters, 4th Special Service Brigade, making their way from LCI(S)s (Landing Craft Infantry Small) onto ‘Nan Red’ Beach, JUNO Area, at St Aubin-sur-Mer at about 9 am on 6 June 1944 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)