In Normandy everyone can hear you scream

Fourth game of Kampfgruppe von Luck and with a complete Para platoon I thought it was time to turn the tide, the village of Ranville offered some great defensive terrain and I had chosen a roadblock so that the possible introduction of a self-propelled gun would keep the machine from dominating the whole table. That of course was the plan.

Matt took his normal firebase of four squads, supported by a sniper, a MMG and of course the Lorraine Schlepper with a formidable 15cm howitzer mounted on the old French chassis. There was also a demolition team to tackle the roadblock, but with four Para platoons in the area these guys had to basically hide until they could get on with their work without interference.

 

As the battle began the Paras took up defensive positions along the middle of the table behind walls and in two houses, the Germans took over the Cafe Normandie on their left flank and set up a squad on the wall to the front. Bullets began to fly and although the one German squad was hit repeatedly none of the shooting was deadly, merely shock, which although they became pinned a couple of times they managed to reduce this and stuck it out on the front line. These guys were then reinforced on their right as the German commander took advantage of a double phase to get his remaining three squads on the table.

The volume of fire now hitting the Paratroopers continued to rise as squad after squad was targeted, Paras began to fall like leaves, their return fire was dire and had virtually no effect on the enemy. With the British in disarray the Germans brought on their self-propelled gun which turned its fire on the nearest houses, more Paras became casualties, it now seemed prudent to withdraw the Paras and hide them from the mounting pressure. My brave PIAT team got into a position to get a clear line of sight on the Schlepper but before they could fire they were cut down by enemy fire. the Germans were now in a position to clear the roadblock and using fire and movement advance into the town, I threw in the towel.

What a one sided game, the discrepancy between the losses on both sides was over the top, the Paras dealt out shock and the Germans kills. I was blaming myself for being useless but forgot that I was also commanding the Germans who had not put a foot wrong. Possibly not as good a choice for a solo campaign as the previous campaigns, you have to be quite canny as the Paras but of course you cannot really do that against yourself. I shall play the campaign out but I do not hold out much hope for stopping Hans.

Casualties!

I got my Panzers in Berlin 1945 the other day, what a lovely book, a real treat. Thanks to technology some of the pictures contain QR codes which will show you the modern view of where the tank was photographed in '45 or just after. Where possible every piece of information on the wreck is given to the reader, the crew, what happened, when it was photographed and what happened to it, some of this is hard to come by of course but they do a good job of rooting out what can be found.

I have started on the sailors despite the heat and willingness to just lie in a darkened room away from the world. I have also ordered up one more Para squad for extras which I had not thought of needing until playing in the campaign above. Not sure when the Panzer III's are due to be sent out, looking online I get the impression it will be any day now but not entirely sure.