Hedgerow Hell Pt 3 - Barenton

 The final outing for my 'Hedgerow Hell' Normandy trilogy takes us to Operation Luttich in August 1944, the ill fated Germans offensive to the sea which eventually resulted in the encirclement and destruction of most of the German forces in the theatre.

This scenario is fairly early in the offensive, fierce resistance from US 30th Infantry Divison had blunted the attack and 10th SS Panzer Division was committed to force a breakthrough, unaware the reinforcements were already on the way. 

As usual, this is based on a scenario from the Command Decision book "From Normandy to Lorraine" and played with my One Hour WW2 variant. The units are small 'battalions', 2-3 companies, to get the unit count up.

Battlefield from the south. This is quite varied terrain, with just some areas of bocage, mixed in with wooded hills, small villages and lots of tracks. The hills are quite hard to make out in the photo I'm afraid but the Bocage bits should fairly obvious - edged in my mid 1970s vintage lichen hedges. Barenton is the town on the crossroads at the bottom, St Georges is to the east. In the top corner is Ger, and just to the southwest is La Gue Rocheux. I realised after taking this photo I'd forgotten to put the buildings for Le Gue on the table! They will appear in the game.

The victory conditions for each side are equally complex, but essentially both sides are attacking, so they need to both hold the enemy attack and complete their own. The US are attacking on the right and need to take some hills and villages, while the German are attacking on the left and also need to take/hold some towns and road junctions.

The German armoured spearhead in and south of Ger. 10th SS Panzer Division only had a single battalion in its Panzer Regiment, with two companies each of Panzer IVs and Stugs. Those two hills with Germans on are US objectives, but the German don't know that.

On the right is 10th SS recce battalion with assorted halftracks. I'm treating this as a Heavy Recce unit. The other unit is a mish mash of armoured engineers, SP infantry guns etc. I'm treating this as a Heavy Mechanised Infantry battalion.

Terry commands these, along with the entire Kampfgruppe.

Back in Ger we have two Pz IV companies, modelled as a single tank unit. I'm being very generous with the German armoured strength here as by early August the entire division only had about 20 operational tanks and assault guns. There are all the German logistic and HQ vehicles as well, along with the panzer artillery battalion (modelled as a battery of Wespe and a battery of Lorraine 150s).

Over in the northwest we have two battalions of SS Panzergreandier Regiment 21, plus the Stug companies. Tim has the Stugs and one of the infantry battalions and Simon the other infantry battalion. All the German units are veterans and the armoured units are combat teams, so not vulnerable to assault in close terrain.

But what is this? Americans! There is a battered infantry battalion from 30th Div in Barenton (3/120 Regt) and over in St Georges is a Recon Troop of 67th Armored Regiment, 3rd Armored Div ('The Third Herd'). This is a light recce unit with M8s and jeeps. 3rd Armored was a 'heavy' armored div, so had 18 tank companies in six battalions rather than the more normal 12 companies in three battalions. 

Dimly visible in among the hedgerows in the top left are a pair of M5 Stuarts, two light companies which I've amalgamated from 1/67th Amd Regt. I'm treating this a heavy recce unit rather than a light tank. The Stuarts were commonly used for recce and screening.

John A is the overall commander and commands this lot. One Wednesday John B will take over the recce units.

And moving up from the south is CCA, 3rd Armored Div. A mechanised horde!

In the lead we have 2/67 Amd and 1/39 Infantry. The latter has an attached M10 tank destroyer company. Jim commands these.

Then we have 3/67 Amd and 3/39 Infantry, along with the HQ and logistic stuff. The combat debut of my Sherman ARV,

Brining up the rear are the air and artillery. A pair of Priests (don't look too hard, they are actually Sextons) and a flight each of B26 Marauders and P47 Thunderbolts. The former is for interdiction missions and the latter for ground support. I've also brought out my L-2 spotter, another debut.

The Stuarts lie in wait at the road junction.

The US got lucky with their air support, a maximum effort on turn one. The Marauders plastered the German supply columns.

Around St George both sides are busy moving up, but the leading recce elements had spotted each other so lobbed some artillery in either direction. The 10th SS recce battalion proved a bit more resilient than the US recon troop. The Pz IVs have moved over the ridge are are actually hidden from St George by that wood. 

In a slightly odd move, the US mech infantry park up in the open while the Shermans occupy the town. We will see if that becomes a problem.

Over in the west the Stuarts call in airstrikes on the Stugs (who are leading the German column) to no effect, and then fall back to the bocage around the road junction. The other US armoured column drives straight through Barenton and heads northwest over the ridge.

At St Georges the recce units trade shots ineffectively and the Shermans have a go at 10th SS recce, but with them being a mile away and uphill the fire has no effect. In a bold move however, the US infantry and their accompanying M10s advance into the woods right next to the Pz IVs. For their part the Pz IVs lob some shells at the Stuarts, a far easier target, and score some hits.

In the west the German engineers receive the full attention of US air and artillery, while one of the panzergrenadier battalions begins to dig in to the northwest of Hill 4. The Stugs take up hull down positions on the wooded ridge while the other lorried PGR motor down to the road junction, but haven't got enough movement to make it into the cover of the bocage due to the interdiction effects of the US airstrikes.

In response, the US Armored Infantry occupy the bocage to pin them frontally, while the Shermans motor at top speed around the track and emerge behind the Germans left flank! A bold move to be sure.

The Stuarts are in range of half the German army and take a pummelling. The Sherman ARV helps reorganise them - its first ever combat mission!

The Germans shell and shoot up the US infantry who become disorganised, while the Stugs chip a hit off the Shermans. In turn the US roll up another maximum air effort and shells and bombs plaster the unfortunate SS grenadiers. This is followed up by an overrun attack by the Shermans.....

With no less than six combat dice (due to the flank attack) , needing 3+ to hit infantry in the open, the Shermans duly crunch the SS under their tracks and take the junction. This puts them right under the guns of the hull down Stugs, but it was a heroic effort. Silver Star?

Over at St Georges, the US Recon troop is also taking a pasting and needs reorganising. I don't know why the US don't put them in some cover. The Shermans keep firing ineffectively at the SS recce up on the ridge and the Pz IVs keep shooting up the Stuarts. The M10s can't believe their luck and blow apart a number of Pz IVs at point blank range. 

Next turn the US just  get an interdiction mission, but the German Flak holds it off.

Artillery and M10 fire inflicts enough losses on the SS Panzer IVs that they became disorganised. The Shermans and (rather battered) Stuarts move up to support the infantry. Both sides have got more disorganised units than they can reorg in a turn now, and their artillery is running out of ammunition.

Over in the west, the Germans pour fire into the Shermans and Armored Infantry. Both units  are disorganised and the Ambulances and ARV rush up to sort them out. The US seem to be stuck here despite their early success, however on this flank it is the Germans who need to be attacking (they need to take Barenton). The early loss of that PGR battalion has really hurt their chances in this sector. 

The Germans manage to resupply their Wespes but US air interdicts the other supply column. That is a real problem for the Germans.

The Germans don't have any option but to withdraw their battered Pz IVs to try and reorganise out of sight. The US are now able to concentrate on the SS recce who also becomes disorganised. The US are too busy resupplying their guns to sort out the battered recon units. This is a high risk strategy for the US, but they have more units to burn than the Germans.

With the US main focus in the east, the US infantry just hunker down in the bocage. The Stugs inflict enough hits on the Shermans to disorganise them again, and in the absence of any spare logistic units, the Shermans withdraw out of range to the wooded ridge to try and reorg in peace on a future turn. The Germans seem to be curiously passive on this front, with neither the panzer engineers nor the other lorried PGR battalion making much active participation.

We broke for the night at that point. Lets see what happens tomorrow.

On Wednesday Jim, John B and Simon all turned up and were pleased to find they still had something to command. The battered SS recce retreated to Hill 4 while the Panzer IVs were reorganised and the the other German artillery battalion was resupplied.

Jim pushed his Shermans forwards while the Stuarts cautiously followed. The US infantry and M10s took enough losses from German fire to become disorganised.

The Germans kept pouring fire into the US infantry in the bocage, and the US LOG prioritised reorganising both them and the Shermans over on the hill. The Germans just didn't have enough force concentrated here to actually shift them, but the fire was effectively keeping them pinned down.

Over at Ger, the US fired all their artillery and air at the (still battered) Pz IVs, followed up by an assault from Jims Shermans. Heroic stuff.

The SS Panzers were just overwhelmed and disintegrated, leaving the Germans on Hill 4 somewhat outflanked.

Over in the west, the US infantry fell back up the hill, but the rejuvenated Shermans drove right around into the German rear. Patton would be proud!

The Germans decided it was all or nothing and sent the SS recce and the lorried infantry battalion straight up the middle towards Barenton after finally finishing off the M10s (who proved less resilient than their pals). The SS engineers moved over to the Hill 5 and Jims Shermans turned right round and parked up behind them.

The impudent Shermans in the northwest set off on an exploitation run through the German rear, pursued by the Stugs while the USAAF and artillery pounded the German counterattack. 

The US infantry up on the hill called down fire on the Germans in the valley, but the defenders of Barenton were screened by the woods in front of the town.

Micheals Shermans occupied Le Ger Rocheux firmly across the German LOC. The Stugs parked up a mile away and pondered their options. They might have been better employed in the attack on Barenton.

The SS engineers rolled south and took cover in the isolated woods, while the recce battalion and lorried grenadiers occupied the woods on the outskirts of Barenton. The grenadiers had taken enough losses by now to become disorganised.

The US recon units formed an arc around St George. They have been been resupplied and were looking a bit more chipper.

The Stugs now headed south, but didn't arrive in time before the German assault on Barenton went in. Although the defenders were left disorganised as a result, the SS grenadiers were repulsed and fell back disordered to the bocage up the road. The SS engineers were too far away to provide support.

The US tank battalions were now firmly in control of the German rear area, and the lead elements of 10th SS Panzer could now consider themselves cut off.

The Stugs motored through the bocage but too late to affect the outcome. 

Unusually we ran out of time at that point, something I generally try to avoid in a game. Running through the victory conditions as they stood, the US had achieved all theirs whereas the Germans had only only met two and were unlikely to attain any more. So, a hard fought US victory.

That was an interesting engagement in  complex terrain, with several players so I guess that was partly why it took longer than usual. I greatly enjoyed the bursts of mobility the entirely motorised forces managed to pull off, and in particular hats off to the US for carrying out their very own 'mini Falaise' encirclement of the Germans. 

Both sides were very evenly balanced: 17 combat dice each, 41 US SP and 42 German SP although the US also had air superiority and both sides had a very high proportion of light and medium armoured units. It really was a case of 'getting there fastest with the mostest', which the US managed to achieve more effectively. The limited number of units each side has, coupled with each unit only being able to do one thing,  forces heart breaking decisions each turn and under pressure everyone makes mistakes.

I greatly enjoyed the 'Hedgerow Hell' mini campaign it had a very different feel to other other games and made a nice change from the Eastern Front. Many thanks to all the players for bringing such enthusiasm to all three session.