Panzers West!

 I've not run any, games for the group for a bit, but I had a couple of games ready to go, one modern and one more horse and musket. As we'd done a fair bit of ECW, I went with the modern one, so back to 1940 France it was.

This time it was a brigade level game using NBC and based on the 'Birth of the Blitzkrieg' scenario book. 'Panzers West' is part of the Battle of the the Gembloux Gap when 3rd and 4th Panzer Divisions fought a lengthy tank battle with 2nd and 3rd DLM. This engagement covers the 35th Panzer Regiment, 4th Panzer Div vs 5th BLM, 3rd DLM near Hannut.

Tim, Pete and Simon took the Germans, while John A and Russell took the French, with John B joining the French on Wednesday evening.

Battlefield from the south. Hannut is at the junction of the five roads, Crehen is closest to the camera and Thisnes in the left centre. 35th Panzer Regiment is approaching from the NE and 5th Brigade Legere Mechanique is mainly west and south of Hannut. The Germans need to take three of the villages to win.

The French position from the NE. There is a mechanised recce company in Hannut, a battalion of Dragoons (11th Dragon Portes) next to Crehen. In Crehen itself is a battery of 47mm AT guns and a Squadron of Somuas, while in Thisnes is a battery of 75mm guns, the Brigade HQ and a squadron of H39s. The tanks are all from 2nd Cuirassiers.

Both the 75s and the 47s are pretty good AT guns, especially the 47s. The Dragoons have a 25mm AT gun platoon as well which is pretty much a popgun. The French tanks are also pretty good, with decent armour, and the H39s and Somuas have long barrelled 37mm and 47mm guns respectively. The H35s in Hannut only have short 37s though, but are still relatively heavily armoured.

Offtable is a battalion of 75s, another squadron of Somuas, and some RAF Hurricanes providing CAP. Indirect 75mm fire is only really suppressive against armour. 

The Germans have both battalions of 35th Panzer Regiment, along with various attached elements offtable.

4th Panzer had a very high proportion of Pz I and II in 1940 and small numbers of Pz III and IV. I ended up modelling it as a company of Pz I, a company of Pz II, a mixed company of Pz III/IV and a recce 'platoon' of more Pz II. The attacks into Belgium and Holland were only supposed to be diversions, so the Germans sent their worse equipped divisions. I slightly upgraded the firepower of the Pz IIs as the 20mm autocannon was still a viable, if inferior, AT weapon in 1940.

Offtable is the armoured battalion of the Schutzen Regiment, although it only has one company in halftracks. This is a powerful unit with a platoon of towed 75mm and 37mm guns, an integral engineer platoon, and some SP 37mm guns in the halftrack company.

Otherwise there is a battalion of towed 105s, the Regimental HQ and a towed company of 37mm AT guns.

The Luftwaffe is also around, Stukas to drop bombs and Bf 109s for CAP.

The huge mass of Panzers concentrate along the road to Hannut. Pointing on request. Tanks of course aren't best suited to capturing towns.

The Panzers advance, French visible across the rolling countryside. The lines of stones mark low ridges which block LOS at ground level. There is actually a hidden route open to the unguarded town in the far northwest, but the Germans  don't seem to have realised that.

The Germans pushed out their recce platoons to see what was going on. One came under artillery fire and the other was destroyed by the 47mm AT battery. Emboldened by this success, the Somua squadron came rolling onto the hill to play.

The H39s moved out of Thisnes and took up position behind the rise to the north.

The Dragoons awaited the armoured onslaught while the AT gunners painted some rings on their gun barrels.

Over the battlefield, the RAF and Luftwaffe indulged in some dogfighting. The Messerschmits managed to drive the Hurricanes away.

As the Schutzen battalion marched on, the Panzers split. One battalion moved around Hannut to the north, while the other took the Somuas under fire with its Pz IIIs and closed the range with the light tanks.

The German artillery engaged the defenders of Hannut, but they were insufficiently suppressed as the tanks closed in, and managed to knock out some Pz Is. The H39s rolled forward, hidden from view behind the rise.

Faced with 60 Panzers heading in their direction, the Somuas beat a hasty retreat. Unfortunately they fluffed their movement roll and didn't get very far.

Having cleared the skies, the first flight of Stukas flew on.

The H35s in Hannut went up in balls of fire and the bombing suppressed the motorcyclists. Suddenly things have all gone a bit Blitzkrieg. 

Back on the other flank the Germans caught the Somuas and engaged them at point blank range. Even the Pz Is (with armour piercing bullets) had a chance at this range.

The Panzers bypassed the blazing ruins of Hannut while their recce platoon masked the H39s. French AT gunners knocked out some Pz IIs as the Panzer trundled past. 

The H39s responded by charging the Pz II reccce platoon, which was destroyed in close range combat, although it managed to take some H39s with it.

The Schutzen took some losses from mortar fire and failed their morale test!

Meanwhile the other panzer battalion was locked in close range combat with the Somuas. Both sides rolled appalling dice and the losses were light. German artillery fire on Hannut followed up the bombing and destroyed the remaining defenders, just like the manual.

In the north the Germans responded to the threat from 2nd Cuirassiers with an assault of their own.

Again, losses were light, but it was enough to tip the Germans over 50% losses and they fell back in disorder to regroup.

The French counterattack at Hannut was looking quite promising, but at this juncture the Schutzen battalion rallied and the motorised AT company rolled on.

The Somuas finally went down, but not before taking out a company of Pz IIs.

The Dragoons and their supporting artillery were still unscathed. The gunners were having a fine old time blazing away at the German tanks, who were all thoroughly distracted by the French armour.

We broke for the evening at that point and resumed the next day.

The revived Schutzen simply overran Crehen behind an artillery barrage. Although they took some losses, the defenders were annihilated, including the deadly 47mm AT battery.

The brave defenders of Crehen. Off to the casualty clearing station. 

The rest of the Dragoons failed their morale and became disorganised. The Panzers exploited this success by enveloping Crehen on either flank, although their ranks were considerably thinned. The French reserve squadron of Somuas came on and parked up behind the rise to the west.

Hannut was occupied by the German AT company and Regimental HQ.

Thisnes, garrisoned by a 75mm battery and the French brigade HQ. The Brigadier is standing on the bridge.

The RAF and Luftwaffe rolled up and started knocking lumps out of each other again. Sadly this time the Hurricanes were shot down.

This cleared the way for a Stuka strike on Thisnes, which took out the 75mm guns. The remaining H39s moved back to protect the town.

The Panzers tried to overrun the remaining Dragoons taking cover in the drainage ditch.

Although they lost 75% of their strength, the 25mm pop-gun manged to knock out some Pz IIs before being overrun.

The Panzers crunched the survivors under their tracks, which opened the way for an armoured exploitation by the other panzer battalion, which piled up the road towards Thisnes, supported by the Schutzen. 

The Cuirassiers responded by assaulting the armoured column in the flank with the last Somua squadron! 

This final insult was enough to break the Schutzen, who withdrew in disorder to Crehen, leaving the tanks locked in close range combat. 

Despite their losses, the Germans were gradually opening up the road network, which improved their tactical flexibility. 

The tank battle outside Thisnes ended in a grim massacre as both sides were mutually annihilated. 

The H39s then charged the remaining Panzers who were still milling around next to the drainage ditch. 

Hilariously this also resulted in mutual destruction. Not a single operational tank company was left on the table, apart from the German Regimental HQ!

The motorised panzerjaeger company drove through the wreckage to the outskirts of Thisnes. 

While the German HQ rallied the Schutzen battalion in Crehen. 

With only the French HQ left in Thisnes, surrounded by blazing wreckage, the French conceded. 

Well, that was certainly a bloody and hard fought action, and as in real life, both sides were fairly well matched, but the German combined arms team was just that bit more effective. 

Of course not every tank is destroyed, the majority will only have suffered minor damage and left in possession of the battlefield, the Germans will recover at least 50% overnight, and another 25% in the next  few days. The French having retreated however, have lost the lot. It was a very solid and scarily effective defence though, and possibly food for thought for the Germans. 

Many thanks to the players for indulging in my latest early war fancy, and I have also proved that you can get no less than four 15mm tanks in a Hexon hex, although only just, and as long as they aren't Panthers.