Operation Dickens 1540

Operation Dickens at 1500

Operation Dickens at 1444

Operation Dickens

After the bombing resolution 83 US of FJ remain in the town (just over 200 men) In the real battle there were c. 150.

CASTLE HILL GAME B END

German Victory - This one went heavily in favour of the FJ who have many advantages and many options.  The key events were the MOTIVATION failures in the castle which pretty much cost the 4th Indian units the battle.

CASTLE HILL GAME B 0620

Castle Hill - new deployment

I am trying a new set up for the British/Indians. I've moved all the mtrs and MMGs down the mountain a bit from point 175 and this allows them to spread out more. I have also deployed a platoon of A/4/6 Rajputanas as 3 half sections in the hope it will slow the FJ down more. In the castle I put the FOO in a safer place though they may not be able to see as much.

CASTLE HILL - FJ thrown back in viscious hand to hand combat

The Castle has so many troops inside that it is quite easy to pin the Germans who have gotten a toehold then move in and finish them off with 0m range fire. The British/Indians need to be quite lucky but so far have been. They've wiped out 3 squad sized stacks of Germans this way, but have lost 2 of their own. A battle of attrition!

CASTLE HILL - BREACH AND ENTRY

Textbook German attack. The Essex/Rajputanas have it all to do to restore the situation.

CASTLE HILL 0630

Castle Hill - storm about to break..

It's the crux of the battle. The Germans have infiltrated forward, wiping out the Rajputanas stationed outside the castle. They are now poised to assault the walls and have good covering fire set up. It will be interesting to see how it works out but I need a fresh mind - too groggy now.

Castle Hill Cassino

La Fiere - German win

Moments later the US lost another 3 KIA in close combat - and it looks like the Germans may end up holding La Fiere! They have only lost 2 KIA and generated a hero to boot.

 

US losses mount to 10 after some bloody close range combat. There is now no way to clear stone buildings without close combat (or direct HE fire) so it is a dicey proposition. Can't put my finger on any US errors - just the Germans are dangerous.

La Fiere - again

La Fiere 0500 June 6th 1944

A textbook double flank attack went off perfectly for the US, with only 2 KIA and almost no setbacks. In just over 30 minutes the Germans were dead or surrendering. Dolan himself led the charge round the southern flank and up the stairs of Le Manoir, crushing all resistance. 

Recent rules changes helped the US who can now hide behind the hedges with greater impunity. The Germans never really got off a good shot though they did have several chances. The ability of the US to set up 3 .30 cal MG groups widely spaced and keep the Germans pinned was a big help too.

BdF again 0640

Disaster struck the VG and their killer stack was wiped out/taken prisoner following a very effective close range shot. I think they can't accomplish much more now. Maybe we'll play it out to see.

BdF to 0630 20th December 1944

BdF another go

BdF to 1530

It looks like the German attack has failed. Only a few units remain and the US still have high FP units facing in all directions.

RETHINKING RECENT CHANGES

I did change the effects of firing a lot recently. I had it that any unit that was PRONE/PINNED would be automatically PINNED UNDER FIRE if forced to take a PTC. PTCs also became extremely common with any attack that fails to cause an MC generating a PTC.

In playing BdF I noticed it was too easy to stop troops crawling forward prone because any passed FTC was PINNING them and removing CONCEALMENT.

I've changed it so PRONE units just behave normally. 

They must fail a PTC to suffer PINNED UNDER FIRE or lose CONCEALMENT.

PINNED are still automatically PINNED UNDER FIRE and LOSE TRYING -1/-2.

BdF 1510

General F&M points of note

I've noticed that when researching and designing F&M games and in playing them that it usually demonstrates the outcomes were usually very much as the balance of forces would indicate.

This is no exception. The VG are not really strong enough to capture BdF since the US have too many threats and the VG too little mobile FP. Even if they went the high risk strategy and put the IG at the woods edge they are too far away given the mist to do much about the M8s and the 105s or M16/M15s would make mincemeat of them.

This doesn't for me invalidate the games or the system. Rather it is a positive feature as it helps me learn about the battles.

BdF 1440 - All Hell breaks loose...

A very eventful 10 minutes. The southern arm of the pincer has run into trouble with a lot of straying and some broken green units that will be hard to rally. 2 platoons of this company have wandered off! Can't really blame them.

The Northern pincer is doing better with some useful firebases and assault units in position. The US have redeployed the M8s to counter this threat and it is a solid line with many MGs and the 105mm. The next 20-30 minutes will prove decisive.

BdF 1430 - VG move into position

I've decided to see how the second VG attack goes given the US took such heavy losses during the predawn attack. The usual strategy is to make 2 wide flanking attacks while mortars, Infantry guns and MGs add what support they can from the treeline.

This is not the direct frontal probes that seem to have been attempted in the real battle, but we have to allow some latitude or it's pointless. The key is to coordinate two or more attacks in order to split the US mobile FP (which now is limited to the 3 M8s) and hope to break in on one or more axis. I think the VG have an excellent chance but they remain rather brittle (cohesion 3) while the US do have good FP, foxholes and the deadly 105s. A single round from Parker's gun eliminated an sMG Gruppe already.

BdF to 0740

BdF to 0630

Baraque de Fraiture