Sit Rep: Sturmgruppe Beton
Vroenhoven, Belgium, 10 May 1940
A dangerous salient in the Belgian frontier defenses was centered on the city of Maastricht. Due to treatise and pre-war politics the Belgian army was unable to effectively garrison the approaches to the Belgian territory over the Albert Canal. The capture of the bridges over the canal at the towns of Vroenhoven, Veldwelezt and Kannes was critical to the success of Army Group B's invasion of the west. In a daring coup de main assault glider-borne paratroopers in the pre-dawn hours of the 10th May captured the bridges at Vroenhoven and Veldwelezt. The bridge at Kannes was blown by defending Belgian forces prior to its capture. The Belgian High Command responded with repeated assaults, both ground based and by air, to recapture or destroy the captured bridges. The beleaguered German paratroopers resolutely defended in place awaiting relief by the main body of the German invasion.
So once more the French deck was in use as the German offensive on Belgium continued. With James losing the last game he gained the opportunity to choose forces and swayed be the horror experienced in the Belgian fort he dismissed them in favour of the far smaller German defensive group.
An important element of this campaign was the exit and entry point on the Axis board edge was restrict to two hexes in one corner (N10 and 010), representing the road to the bridge. Accordingly the Germans set up inn the fortified positions of the buildings surrounding the area.
As a result of the setup the plucky Belgians saw an opportunity of flanking the buildings and set up accordingly. 3 BAR, one elite team and Sgt Rochefort set up in the extreme opposite corner (A2 and B2) with the hope running across the map into the relative cover of the woods before the German light MG could redeploy. This manoeuvre was supported by the Belgian HMG in the building and the Medium mortar by the road (in the open due to its ability to outrange the german position.
The game began swimmingly for the Belgians who by the end of their second turn had succeeded in getting 2 move action on the BAR crossing the field with no response AND Breaking both units in the LMG hex. an 18FP fit from the mortar looked to have killed them both only for James to manage to save both without the use of initiative.
Very quickly indeed things looked like this!
What could go wrong thought our cheesy Belgian hero, now positioned in the woods behind German lines, safe in the knowledge that any reinforcements could only emerge from the other side of the buildings which would soon cover them as they hopped the fence and advanced into the orchard.
Well... Operation Grande Fromage it was not as a series of faltering attacks followed by (you guessed it) random events and ultimately dubious generalship conspired to ruin the Belgians sojourn towards the river.
With yet more move cards in hand the Belgians hoped to jump into the houses in one move, however Rochefort and his troops were slowed by the woods they had entered along with the fence meaning a single move wouldn't see them safe. Instead an advance was chosen shuffling the troops along one in the hope that more impressive heavy fire would hamper german defences. The move was made but the fire attack the following turn failed with the mortar jamming and a quick advace from the leftmost German squad combined with a rallying LMG resulted in Roquefort questioning his safety and pulling back into the woods.
The faltered advance was soon to suffer a further set back as two hidden troops appeared in the buildings for the Germans. First a HMG pops its head out from the support table and then the hero arrives to aid the leftmost Germans in the hope of stopping the assault in the buildings. All of a sudden the Germans don't look quite such a measly bunch!!!
Somewhat panicked by the growing german presence Rochefort pushes his men forward supported by smoke and makes it halfway to the buildings miraculously avoiding damage. Once again things are looking in the balance, if the Belgians can just get another move order.
A further turn passes with no damage and Belgian prayers are answered as another move order is found. The BAR push on and despite the first unit getting snagged in wire things are looking good. This success occurring despite the new German HMG rendering all supporting fire useless as the Belgian HMG and its commander are broken on the other side of the field.
The Belgian attack then slows as cards dry up and no assault is found a number of turns pass as both sides try to cycle their decks. Things go from bad to worse for the Belgian HMG crew as their still broken commander is KIA with an event and then a time advance sees the German airdrop enter the game and a second HMG carried onto the field.
An advance card arrives just in time for Rochefort and they hop into the house ambushing the hero as they enter and winning the assault by 2 points after the Germans burnt the initiative card.
Unfortunately the racket they cause see some of the big guns turn around and the plucky sergeant is soon broken in the houses.
As the Germans draw the Elan event increasing there surrender level to 6 things are looking tough as hopes of a big assault to win the game become more difficult. Then in the panic Rochefort make a fateful error. Having rallied and looking to pick his way through the houses he assaults the left most LMG para regiment only he (read I) forgets that his support is a mere Elite team and the BAR's are too far behind to help. The result is bloody and Rochefort dies a brave but foolish hero!
This occurrence is quickly followed by the cower event and with 2 of the 3 Belgian leaders now gone most of the troops become suppressed. It is now just a matter of time before the Belgians are destroyed.
The HMG continue to hammer away. the most notable incident being a FP25 fire attack on an unbroken BAR unit coinciding with a sniper in the exact same hex. Presumably the HMG fire took out a floor of the building!!!
With the Belgians one unit short of their surrender limit sudden death is reached and the game ends. The Germans holding a dominant 25VP victory.
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| (Ignore the German hero he should have been back in the counter bag) |
Things had looked good for the Belgians early but once again the difficulty in discarding slowed their attack and when the mortar did hit regular use of concealment saved the german position from breaking. The final line up of Germans in the houses with 2HMG was frankly frightening!!
The Germans win and James gets his first victory of the war!!!
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