Gembloux, France, 15 May 1940.
As French forces fought the Germans to a near standstill in and around Gembloux, infantry forces belonging to the attacking 3rd Panzer Division were tasked with taking a nearby sunken road. Led by the determined Captain Grudler, a battered company of Moroccan RTM fiercely defended the road - called the Chemin Creux, or Hollow Road - for many hours, and in the end, to the very last man.
It was my
turn to choose sides after losing the last one and after mulling it over for a
little while I decided to take the Germans, despite France possessing some
fearsome looking squads. The early problem for the French was whether to take
an aggressive position and attempt to engage the attacking Germans or to sit
back and try and hit them from distance. Both sides possessed MGs and mortars
so it was possible to attack from range. Dan opted for the latter, placing his
units in cover around the crossroads at either end of the sunken road. I split
my forces more or less evenly and placed them in cover.
The game
began with the two sides returning volleys of machine gun and mortar fire at
each other’s covered positions. A couple of units broke but were able to
recover and there no early eliminations. The Germans had to get across the open
terrain in between their starting positions and the next covered position. On
the right flank Sgt Ganz and his three squads and weapon team made a dash for
the small buildings and orchard that sat adjacent to the crossroads. Fire from
Lt Von Karsties HMG and the sight of the advancing German platoon put the
Moroccans in defence mode. They exited the house and ducked into the sunken
road.
The squads
quickly occupied the house and surrounding orchard, exchanging fire with the Moroccan
BAR squad in a nearby foxhole. The outnumbered Moroccans quickly abandoned
their foxhole in favour of the sunken road, a position that the Germans would have
to assault from adjacent hexes. The abandoned foxhole provided cover in a
position that would otherwise have been completely open.
Over on
the left flank Lt Von Karsties began moving his HMG into a position to fire on
the other side of the road. Cpl Winkler and the second platoon had been keeping
their heads down and staying behind the treeline due to effective suppressing
fire from Cpt Gough’s HMG and mortar teams. However, a sustained burst of fire
caused the HMG to break. Hearing the gun fall silent, the Lt signalled Cpl
Winkler to move second platoon to the buildings and walled area halfway between
their current position and that of the defending Allies.
Now in
range of a large force of Germans and not yet able to get the HMG fire, Cpt
Gough ordered his men into the cover of the sunken road, leaving behind the
mortar team to fire on the German position. The Moroccans were now in position
from which they would not be able to exit and resolved that this would be a
position they would defend or die trying. The Germans had to either enter the
road from one of the two crossroads one squad at a time or take positions alongside
the road in open ground. Either way their ability to bring large numbers to
bear was limited.
Back on
the German right, the rifle squad in the foxholes and another which had moved
around the opposite side of the road fired on the BAR squad that occupied the
valuable objective space. Dan was forced to withdraw the squad to an adjacent
space and leave the objective unguarded. The German squad immediately took
advantage and leapt down to claim control of the objective hex. Cpt Gough’s men
had now managed to repair their HMG and from the other end of the road yelled
at their comrades to get their heads down before unloading the HMG at the
Germans, who had to scramble up the slope back into their foxholes to avoid
being eliminated.
The objective
hex now sat in a precarious no-mans-land as both sides were unwilling to put their
men into enemy line of sight. From the other end of the road Von Karsties set
about removing the mortar that was continuing to cause problems. After much shooting his HMG was able to eliminate
the weapon team and open up a path to the crossroads at the end of the road.
The Lt moved his men into the covered position next to the crossroads, keeping
out of sight of Gough’s men. By now, with a Germans substantial German force at
either end of the road the Moroccan defenders were feeling squeezed.
With time
now starting to run short Lt Von Karsties needed to make a decisive move. He
laid down a wall of smoke and moved his men around the entrance of the road.
Gough men, although unable to see, fired through the smoke, hoping to slow the
inevitable assault. The Germans fired back but neither side was able to
effectively penetrate the smokescreen. Von Karsties then gathered up two squads
and lead the advance into the road. Gough and his HMG team suddenly found
themselves utterly overwhelmed and the resulting melee sealed the result. A
trap was set off, exploding close to the Germans but there were no casualties.
The Captain and the HMG were moved to the eliminated units box and the Germans,
after replacing one of the now overstacked squads with a team, began moving the
rest of the men onto road.
With the
HMG gone Sgt Ganz ordered his men back onto the road, the remaining Moroccans
now surrounded out massively outnumbered. There was no doubt that the road was
now controlled at either end by German forces. With that, a time advance card
moved the time track to sudden death bringing the game to an end. Capturing the
two high value objective spaces and eliminating a number of Allied units had
swung the points decisively into the favour of the Germans. The Allies had put
up a fight but had been unable to halt the assault and the West was one step closer
to its inevitable fall.
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The Axis, following this result, extend their lead over the allies to 5-3 and Dan sees his lead over James reduced to 5-3.
Next week: Brits!
Thanks for reading
D&J
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