Hedgerow Hell - St Mere Eglise

 One of my regular players made a request to go somewhere a bit wetter than the desert and a bit warmer than the snowfields of eastern Europe, so he we are back in Northwest Europe. It occurred to me that I haven't done many US scenarios recently apart from a few Bulge ones, and I've had the Command Decision scenario book 'From Normandy to Lorraine' knocking around for a while. So here we are, another little mini campaign, 'Hedgerow Hell', comprising three typical engagements fought by the US Army in Normandy. All the scenarios are based on those in 'From Normandy to Lorraine', and as it is June, it has to be a D Day scenario! As usual, this will be played with my One Hour WW2 variant. 

First up we have St Mere Eglise, on 7th June 1944.

Battlefield from the south. St Mere Eglise is the big crossroads nearest the camera, Neuville au Plain is the village up the highway to the northwest and Bondienville the village up to the northeast. The rest of the table is covered in bocage hedgerows. The actual hedges are representational, but each hex has approximately 60 tiny fields in it bounded by big hedges in real life. Lovely.

 

Neuville au Plain is the site of the famous action fought by Lt 'Turner' Turnbull on 6th June against elements of 91st Luftlande Division supported by French tanks, but we are doing the day after...

91st Luftlande is having another go. Here is the whole of Grenadier Regiment 1058, lined up in Neuville and Bondienville under Obst Kurt Beigang. Their job is to hang on to Neuville but take St Mere Eglise, even temporarily.

At Neuville is I/GR 1058. Each unit represents a couple of companies, so the whole battalion has two units (each stand is therefore a company). The battalion has been reinforced with a detachment of Panzerschrecks from the Regimental AT company. Terry commanded these.

And II/GR 1058 is at Bodienville. They also have a detachment of Panzerschrecks. Oberst Beigang can be see parked up with his Kubelwagen behind a hedge. Mark commanded these and was overall CO.

They have quite a lot of support! The 7th Armee Sturm Battalion is on the way, reinforced by a Marder company. The other element has integral engineers. Although most of the Germans are rated as Regular, the engineer detachment is veteran. Tim commands these, they roll up on turn 1.

The Regiment is also supported by lavish artillery attached from various units. A battalion of (Russian) 122mms howitzers from 243rd Division, Russian 152mms from 709th Division and a battalion of 105mm Recoiless Rifles from 91st Luftlande itself. As the division was designed to be air portable, it had a mountain artillery regiment equipped with recoilless rifles. All of these units are short of ammunition. There are also two horse drawn supply columns - my field kitchen and an improvised horse drawn ambulance. I stuck a red cross on top of one my horse carts. Thank you Graham Evans for that idea. This is the combat debut of my 105mm RR.

Whereas in St Mere Eglise we have a handful of US Paras! What is left of Colonel Batchelors 505 PIR, 2nd and 3rd Battalions, at around half strength each due to misdrops, straggling etc. The Colonel and regimental supply column (jeeps with trailers) are just behind the town. These guys are veterans and +1 dice in close combat. Their job is to hold St Mere Eglise and retake Neuville. I'm sure that will be easy, despite being outnumbered 3:1...

John commanded these and is Regimental CO. This is the combat debut of my jeep trailers!

Fortunately help is at hand. A unit of Para stragglers commanded by Jerry.

And then this vast array of infantry, armour and aircraft.

First up we have 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, reinforced by elements of 70th and 746th Tank Battalions. This basically gives them a tank unit (Jerry), an infantry unit supported by tanks (Russell) and another infantry unit. These guys are all regular.

In support we just have the Regimental Cannon Company and a 4.2" Chemical Mortar detachment, as the divisional artillery hasn't been offloaded onto the beach yet. These can only support 2nd Infantry, so Russell has control of these. 

The US air is also restricted to interdiction missions against located German batteries and supply units as the close terrain precludes the sort of tactical air support which was developed later in the campaign. (I'm missing my B26 Marauder in invasion stripes here, but it will appear in the game). There is also an ambulance detachment which can only support these guys and not the Paras. So a slightly unusual communications and supply situation for the Allies in this one. I'm hoping it represents some of the chaos after the air and beach landings. 

This is also the combat debut of my 4.2" mortar. Eagle eyed readers will notice that the crew look a bit...British. I do have a few more 4.2" mortars, I just haven't painted one with a US crew yet. They are all from the PSC US Heavy Weapons box. Right, to battle!

Over in the northwest, 1/I/1058 set about fortifying Neuville, while 2/I/1058 pushed south across the fields. 7th AoK SA joined them, entering the table from the west. The infantry escorting the Marders through openings in the hedges.

Over on the right II/1058 pushed very aggressively forwards to reach the outskirts of St Mere Eglise, where they ran into US Paras in the buildings.

US small arms fire inflicted some losses on the leading German elements and more US Paras pushed aggressively out of the town up the road to Neuville. The extensive cover kept losses from direct fire low.

Sadly the US push north was perhaps a bit over optimistic. A storm of German artillery fire landed on the Paras among the hedgerows, while II/1058 took the buildings under fire. The Paras took some losses and were suppressed by the artillery fire. Even worse, 7 AoKSA and 2/II/1058 advanced into contact with the disorganised Paras on the road, threatening to cut their lines of retreat.

A unit of Para stragglers came running up the road from the south and made it into the southern outskirts of the town. The disorganised US Paras on the road assaulted the Germans in the field, and although they inflicted enough losses to disorganise them in turn, the assault failed to rout them and the Paras fell back to the edge of St Mere.

The Germans in turn poured on their artillery, and behind the barrage, the Marders and their supporting infantry overran the disorganised Paras on the road. The Paras holding the NE corner took some losses but grimly hung on. The Germans were right on the edge of the town now on a long front.

The USAAF put in a timely appearance and hammered the German logistic train, preventing resupply of the German artillery.

Back in the town, Jerrys Para stragglers occupied the church and crossroads area, while supply jeeps evacuated casualties and brought up ammo for Johns remaining Paras.

One element of II/1058 pulled back, while the other was left disorganised and in a poor state in the fields north of the town. 7 AokSA kept up a steady fire on the church with the Marders (just like Saving Private Ryan!) while the engineers slipped into the buildings on the western outskirts.

The US conducted more air attacks on the German log train. The Marauders veered away at the last moment, reluctant to bomb the clearly marked German ambulances but the field kitchen was hammered by the P38s.

The pressure was telling in the town. The Germans fired off the last of their artillery ammo at the Paras on the outskirts. The Americans had reached the end of their tether, and fell back across the hedgerows to reorganise next to the church.

Help was at hand though, as the Shermans of 746th Tank Battalion came rolling up the road and into the southern outskirts of St Mere to support the Paras in the church. The cavalry had arrived!

US aircraft continued to hammer the German logistics. I could have just allocated a single supply column to the Germans instead, but this is more fun (each airstrike succeeds on a 3+) and the net result is the same - on average the Germans only have one active LOG unit per turn.

The Germans now pushed up on both sides of the town, 2/I/1058 moved across the fields to the southwest of Tims engineers and 1/II/1058 pressed hard up against the church. The US had reorganised Johns paras however, and the tanks and paras in the church just kept blazing away at the Germans.

More planes hammer the German rear areas. Some supplies did get through and resupplied some of the German guns. 

As the firefight around the town continues, the main relief effort arrives from Utah beach! Infantry and tanks from 8th Infantry Regt and 70th Tank Battalion moving across the fields from the southeast. More importantly, they bring with some artillery and heavy mortars.

The various yellow badges on the German units show the Americans are starting to get the upper hand in the town, and the latest batch of reinforcements aren't even in contact yet.

We broke for the night at that point, just as the tide was turning. Russell will join us tomorrow and we will see what happens then.

Well, Wednesday came around and a strange thing happened. The Germans began to pull back! They broke contact all along the line and withdrew back into the hedgerows, the two disorganised units fell back to the limit of their movement allowance, but the Germans were careful to keep the roads locked down. They dropped harassing artillery barrages behind them.

The US followed up, with a degree of caution. The German withdrawal meant the artillery spotters from 8th Infantry Regt still couldn't locate any targets. St Mere Eglise was reoccupied and the 746th Tanks pushed up the side road to Bondienville.

The German left flank went firm while the right continued to withdraw. The brief respite from Allied air attacks allowed both the disorganised units to reform.

The Allies were equally cautious on their left, being content to reoccupy the western outskirts of St Mere, but pushed forwards aggressively on the right as Infantry and Paras moved up to support the 746th, behind a barrage of 4.2" mortars and 105s. The German infantry on the right hand road were pounded - given the heavy cover against direct fire, artillery was the real killer here. 

The Germans dropped another harassing barrage to impede the Allied right and fell back again. The Allies pushed up into the fields.

Over on the Allied left, the German engineers mounted a rearguard action while the other infantry fell back, including the Marders. US troops followed up. St Mere was firmly back in US hands now.

In the rear the USAAF continued to pound the German supply lines. This was by far the most effective use of the aircraft as it both denied the Germans artillery ammo and the ability to reorganise their battered units. I think I will keep this mechanism for other games were one side has air superiority. It is a bit more dice rolling, but is very nerve wracking for all involved.

Johns US Paras had noticed a gap on the flank, so slipped around the edge of the German line while the Germans were pinned frontally. Meanwhile the Germans had discovered that Panzerschrecks work quite well against Shermans!

Tims Marders and engineers were holding the road to Neuville and Terrys infantry were busy trying to dig in (the green counter). Jerrys Paras along with some infantry and tanks pushed up to them.

Vicious fighting broke out on the US right flank. Both the US infantry and Shermans took enough losses t become disorganised, but Johns US Paras occupied Bondienville and the Germans at the end of line were shot up and outflanked. 

Terrys boys digging in were shelled, shot at and assaulted! They just hung on but took heavy losses. The Shermans and infantry fell back to reorganise.

Faced with annihilation, the German infantry on the extreme right fell back along the road. The US forces were in a bit of a state here though, the Shermans were on five(!) hits and had to be reorganised.

The Americans concentrated all their efforts on the German anti-tank troops now their flank was exposed.

But it soon became apparent that the Americans were not going to break through to Neuville in the remaining time as nearly all their units were disorganised now, so they broke contact along the front while ambulances ferried the wounded to the rear.

At the close of play the battered Germans were still just holding a line in front of Neuville, while the US were regrouping around St Mere Eglise, awaiting more of 9th Infantry Div to roll up. In game terms that was a German win, but that was actually a very historical result - the real US attack rapidly ran into trouble and the Paras just managed to hang onto St Mere, but the tide turned later in the day as the US infantry and armour broke through.

Playing in the close terrain was a very different experience, the very restricted visibility meant that the tactics which work in our more open games (particularly the desert and Russian steppe) simply don't work here. Both sides were on a bit of a learning curve, but they both rapidly realised that the restricted visibility had benefits as well as disadvantages. The Germans phased withdrawal made masterly use of the terrain and visibility restrictions.

I was also very pleased with the more interactive air vs logistics game - normally I'd just say the Germans only have one supply unit, but adding in the air attacks really added something as it made the availability of supply much more uncertain, but occasionally lots of supplies did get through. I'll keep that for future games in this series at least, even if it is just an excuse to field more aircraft models.