Damblainville August 17th 1944

Inspired by the anniversary of the historic events that transpired in Normandy 75 years ago, I decided to dust off my WWII toys and play through some of the battles from the Blood and Honour series created by Paddy Green and Richard de Ferrars for the Battlefront WWII rules. This has always been my favourite WWII ruleset, but it can be a bit fiddly so I wanted to also test out a simplified version that I had developed to see if it still preserved the overall feel of the game.

I had not played the Damblainville scenario, so I tackled that solo, playing the smaller vignette option, which still put a pile of Canadian armour on the board! The game's background is set during the August 1944 attempt to close the Falaise pocket. With Falaise still stubbornly held by the enemy energies had become focussed on clearing an alternate way to Trun. To this end Lt General Simmonds ordered the 4th Canadian Armoured Division to advance on Trun by the most direct route possible. This passed through the village of Damblainville via its bridges that span the River Ante.

The objective for the Canadians is the seizing of the bridges over the Ante and clearing the way for vehicles to cross and exit the board.

The game was played on a 6' X 4' table with 20mm figures, using the Battlefront WWII rules with some home grown tweaking.

The Battlefield

Damblainville as seen from the high ground (bottom) where the Canadians enter. Hedgerow-lined roads and fields made the initial advance difficult, especially under the watchful eyes of German artillery FO’s and armour.

The Objective

The objective for the Canadians is to seize a crossing at Damblainville. The Ante River is spanned by three bridges of indeterminate quality, a railway bridge to the west and two older stone bridges in the town itself.

Lurking in the woods bordering the Ante are German armour and dug in infantry of Kampfgruppe Olboeter, including a Tiger platoon (bottom) with a full view of the hills to the north and the 1st Panzerjager Kp. . A second German SS infantry company holds the town on the north side of the river with orders to fall back if things get too hot. A third ad hoc company of German engineers, supply and administration are held in reserve further back by the railbed (off picture to left).

The German left

On the west side of the town a reduced Panzer IV company (IL/SS Panzer Regt. 12 “Hitlerjugend”) and German AT guns guard this bridge, with good lines of fire up to the heights beyond.

1. The Canadians advance

The Canadians lead with their armour, throwing A and B Companies of the South Alberta Regiment forward, along with its recce Stuarts. Some tanks advance along the west road, but the lead tank is KO’d 9top right) by a hidden German Pak at the west end of Damblainville and erupts in flames, impeding the advance of the following tanks. A Firefly of A Squadron is also knocked out by a long shot from the German Tiger lurking in the woods east of the town by the railway bridge.

2. Carrier platoon on right

On the right flank the Argyll and Sutherland’s carrier platoon quickly advances, with troops dismounting to seize the unoccupied buildings at the blocked crossroads.

3. Nebelwerfers!

As the first wave of armour rolls in the Canadian commander begins to feed A Company cautiously in along the hedgerows bordering the west road. Regardless they are spotted by the German FO, dug in on the bank of the railway bridge, and a nebelwerfer concentration draws first infantry casualties.

4. 6 pdrs. brought forward

Movement is spotted by the Germans along the eastern flank of the Canadian advance as the Highlanders try to move their guns forward to engage the German Tiger. They are slammed by artillery, causing the Highlanders’ anti tank platoon to loose a gun section. Leaving transport behind the remaining guns are cautiously manhandled forward to their positions.

5. Tough going

It’s out of the frying pan into the fire as the tanks and carrier platoon move out of sight of the Tiger only to come under intensive fire from the German positions west of the town. Another tank and a Bren carrier are brewed up as some of the carrier platoon infantry try and fail to fight their way into the houses on the outskirts of Damblainville under cover of smoke.

6. Germans hold tight

German Panzer IV’s and antitank guns on the south side of the river.

7. Centre bridge comes under attack

One of the South Alberta’s Stuarts is first to arrive at the town entrance opposite the centre bridge, only to be brewed up at short range by a hidden German infantry gun.  A second is KO’d by the Tiger (lower left) reducing the recce squadron to half strength in a matter of minutes.

8. Lurking Tiger

The deadly Tiger on the east flank with a clear view up the valley.

9. 9 Kp. re-enters Damblainville

9 Kp., which had begun the fight on the north bank of the river, had withdrawn across the Ante when enemy armour began swirling around the town, leaving a small rearguard of panzerfaust and panzershrek-armed infantry along with an attached infantry gun to hold up the advance.

However, with enemy infantry approaching and the north bank still standing firm (despite the loss of the infantry gun) 9 Kp. re-enters the north bank, supported by a Jagdpanzer which takes up position at the east entrance to the town.
The hope is to hold of the enemy long enough to allow the engineers, newly arrived, to prepare the bridge for demolition.

10. More casualties

Meanwhile at the west end of the town Highlanders’ A Platoon  supported by B begin to fight their way into the outer edge of the town.  C Company was also fed in on this flank but was pasted by a devastating artillery concentration before they made any headway, with three quarters of the company dead and wounded and the remainder falling back to the woods. Fireflies are brought in to try to bring some big guns to bare at close range but one is quickly knocked out before it can fire a shot.

11. Engineers arrive

Back at the centre bridge, as 9 Kp. moves back across to try to hold the enemy at bay, German engineers arrive with explosives to begin wiring the bridge for demolition.

12. South Alberta C Company enters the fray

The Canadian FOO’s, mostly out of action so far as the bad radio reception in the steep Ante valley compromises their ability to make contact with their artillery, finally connect and lay down a big smoke screen on the left flank. Under cover of this the third company of the South Albertans is sent in to try and reinvigorate the stalled attack. 

13. D Company is sent in

The Highlanders’ D Company is pushed up the left flank at the same time.

14. Under cover of smoke…

Under cover of smoke some of the tanks rapidly make it down the road and into close range of the Jagdpanzer IV now sitting on the railway bridge.

15. House to house fighting

Vicious and costly house to house fighting erupts in Damblainville as the Canadian infantry attempt to drive the SS out of the town. Casualties mount on both sides in the slog.

16. Railway bridge shelled

A Mike target is called on the railway bridge, bringing the weight of the entire field regiment down. One of the engineer sections attempting to mine this bridge is knocked out.

17. Another Firefly goes up in flames

The Jagdpanzer at the entrance to the town is KO’d, allowing Shermans to cautiously edge into town in support of their beleaguered infantry. Yet another Sherman is KO’d by one of the two Jagdpanzers still on this flank.

18. Stymied!

A traffic jam develops on the north side of Damblainville as the South Albertans try to sort themselves out. 6 pdrs, are moved up and infiltrated into some of the buildings to try and bring their support to bare.

19. Another Jagdpanzer KO’d

As South Albertan C Company pours in on the Canadian left the preponderance of guns at close range begin to find their mark and the Jagdpanzer on the bridge is knocked out.

20. Saved by the panzerfaust!

Most of the north bank houses are cleared of Germans and Canadian infantry and tanks begin pouring into the town. In an attempt to force the bridge the lead Sherman moves in to close assault the German engineers but is disabled by a lurking panzerfaust as the tank emerges from the south edge of the town.

21. Canadian right

With the north bank secured, here too the South Albertans try to overwhelm the enemy defence by sheer number of guns but as quickly as one tank takes up position it is knocked out.

22. Panzershrek!

On the western bridge the lead Sherman barrels across to engage the Panzer IV’s at close range, but is KO’d by a panzershrek. The tank catches fire and the erupting flames obscure the area in smoke, making it difficult for both sides to find their mark.

23.  Third Jagdpanzer toasted

The Canadians succeed in taking out the third Jagdpanzer but the Tiger (top left), with no more targets available from its original position, lumbers over to help hold back the attackers.

24. Still stuck on the wrong side of the river

On the Canadian right and badly mauled, the remaining Highlanders hunker down waiting for the armour to clear the way. But things have reached an impasse with no way to force the Germans on the south bank out of their positions. 

25. Tiger on the move 

Not yet spotted, the German Tiger eases its way up to the railway embankment.

26. Bridge mined

Explosives are placed on the centre bridge as the engineers prepare to remove themselves in order to detonate.

27. What the hell is going on here??!!

At this moment Lieutenant Colonel Mitchell of the Highlanders weaves his way down through the carnage to the north side of Damblainville to see first hand what is holding up the attack. As panicked reports come in he finds that half his regiment has been lost in the fighting so far and that A, B and C companies are no longer capable of any sustained action, with only D Company left to clear out the SS who are still in control and dug in on the south bank. With almost half the South Albertans disabled and burning in and around Damblainville he sends message back to brigade HQ recommending calling off the attack. As it turns out bridges further north had been seized the night before without a fight regardless and the entire division has already been ordered to side step Damblainville and utilize this approach.

C’est le guerre.

Final Overview

Top bridge: One of the South Albertan Fireflies edges up onto the railway bed to explore this way forward, but the Tiger on the far side will control that access once the Sherman becomes visible on the bridge.

Centre bridge: A second Sherman has been KO’d in an attempt to force this crossing, and with the bridge now wired for demolition this approach will likely be denied. Regardless the panzerfaust responsible for two kills is still in place with a second in the wings.

Bottom bridge: The burning Sherman on the bridge has largely obscured the hull down Panzer IV’s beyond from effective fire, unless the range is closed dramatically. But with a third Panzer IV, 75mm AT gun, 75 mm infantry gun and panzershrek all within range of the bridge, this will be an almost impossible nut to crack.

The only real way forward would be to get some infantry across the river to shake things up in conjunction with a renewed attack by the armour but the Highlander casualties (50% of the regiment) leaves the remainder too casualty shy and without the numbers to take on the two intact German infantry companies dug in on the south side of the river.

Plagued by failed calls for fire and terrible dice, a very difficult scenario for the Canadians was made impossible! Thanks to Paddy and Richard for all their hard work in bringing this scenario together.

Final butcher bill puts the Canadians at about 25 infantry stands, two 6 pdrs. and 12 tanks lost to the German’s 12 infantry stands, one 75mm infantry gun and three Jagdpanzers, and with the south bank entirely in German hands this one definitely goes to the Germans.

French 3rd Hussars

I thought I would tackle the 3rd Hussars as my first French Hussar regiment for my Peninsular French army, for no other reason than I didn't feel like painting baby blue (sorry, sky blue!) uniforms just yet and I had seen reference of an officer in some very flashy red boots.
One of the participants on Benno's forum made mention that he thought that the Italeri Hussars were some of the best Napoleonic cavalry figures in 1/72 out there and I would tend to agree. They painted up beautifully and there was a great range of poses for both the riders and their horses. All are painted straight out of the box with no conversions necessary this time!

The 3rd Hussars were present at many of the Peninsular battles form 1808 and onwards and should get good play on my gaming board in their role as light cavalry. Here is a list of their regimental war record in the Peninsula.

1808: Tudela
1809: Calcabellos, Tanoris, Banos, Tamanies and Alba de Tormes
1810: Ciudad-Rodrigo, Almeida, Leria and Alcoluto
1811: Redhina and Fuentes-de-Onoro
1812: Arapiles
1813: Vittoria

British ADC's and Foot Artillery conversions

I wanted to try my hand at converting some figures to ADC's, not really needed on my gaming table but nice to place on board scurrying here and there with new orders. They also have subbed as command figures on more than one occasion.

My three new ADC's surrounding a previous conversion of a French officer intoWellington.

This figure started out life as a French officer from the Italeri French Command set, and was probably the most straight forward conversion.

This and the following were adapted from Scots Greys (Italeri)

I liked the energy of this completed figure with bicorne in hand.

 And here are a few more shots of the conversions.

My second stab at conversions is these Italeri British Horse artillery into Foot artillery.

The original set as shown on the Plastic Soldier review page.

There are no very satisfactory British Foot artillery sets, in my opinion, so I decided to tackle this conversion. As the Itlaeri set incorrectly had the horse artillery in tailed jackets, that made things a bit easier. And I always can use a few more tarleton helmeted heads in the parts box!
The new heads were extras from the HaT British infantry set. Besides this, it was mostly ridding them of their swords and the addition of belts, bread bags and canteens as well as a second end to the gun swab.
This isn't a bad set to work with - I find the figures a bit tall and lanky, but they fit in well enough with my previous conversion of the more stocky Hagen metal Portuguese into British gunners. The gun in these pictures is a Hagen gun, better than the serviceable but not so-detailed Italeri gun pictured above that comes with the horse artillery. I'm certain more of these conversions will eventually make it onto my table as need for more British artillery arises!

So here are the final conversions...

Somewhere in Spain 1808

I solo-played a divisional level Over the Hills game in my first attempt at a serious playtest of these rules. I was excited to try these out as up to now I had mostly played games where the brigade was the key game element and I was looking for something a bit less abstracted for smaller engagements that would give the feel of an actual Napoleonic battle. I had read that OTH fit this bill.
 It was a fictional scenario, set in the Peninsular War, with the British on defence on the high ground and the French attacking.
The forces were roughly equal, the French having a battalion of infantry advantage, one more battery and two regiments of horse to the British one.

British on the high ground to left, French attacking from right

The British strung out in supported lines across the high ground, sending a battalion of Rifles to hold a forward position in the centre, in skirmish formation in a woods bordering the stream that traversed the battlefield. The French elected to send the bulk of their force against the British left (employing two brigades, one very strong) while the third brigade and cavalry tied down the British right.

British right

Rifles in skirmish formation deploy in the woods in the British centre, with the remainder of the brigade behind in reserve.

The British left, two battalions up, one back.

The French advanced in column, ranged behind two battalions of light in skirmish formation, screening them from the enemy cannon. 

French right skirts around the village.

French centre advances in column.

As they approached the stream, the skirmishers converged on the Rifles along the stream, attempting to drive them from their forward position. This was the first surprise for me wearing my French general’s hat, discovering that open order skirmishers along a steam and in cover of woods are not so easily dislodged!

Two French battalions of light infantry fail to dislodge the Rifles in a tough skirmish battle.

As the French light infantry hit this speed bump the bulk of the French cannon unlimbered on the right, keeping the British guns engaged as the French columns advanced towards the high ground. 

French guns deploying to the front take fire from the British cannon.

British cannon engage enemy batteries as they advance.

French centre skirt around the right flank of Rifles to press home the attack.

Overview of battle. Lower left Hussars come face to face with the French cavalry as they form up on the near side of the stream. In the centre the left flank of the French attack holds back while the light infantry try to dislodge the Rifles from their woods while at the top the attack on the British left and centre left prepares to go in.

The French centre became a bit tangled up with the skirmish battle going on here, but their right brigade (with a battalion each of Poles and Wesphalians) made good headway and closed with the British far left. Initial success sent the British brigade here reeling back, but they managed to rally, with the battery on this flank sending a devastating load of canister at short range into one of the victorious French columns, causing it to rout.

Poles (foreground) and a second French brigade slam into the British left, driving it back.

Short range canister fire routs one of the brigades and the British right holds.

Wellington surveys the battle as it unfolds.

French cavalry advance to the stream in line.

On the British right things began badly for the defenders. The two cavalry forces played cat and mouse as the French horse crossed the stream, having formed up in columns of squadrons first. 

Forming into columns of squadrons before crossing.

Two battalions of British infantry, seeing the horse, wisely went into square, while the British cavalry held back between them looking for an opportunity to engage the French horse on favourable terms.

KGL Hussars take refuge behind infantry squares.

The British, however, had left their cannon vulnerable to attack. The Vistula lancers charged the battery which, after debating the merits of the crew fleeing to a nearby square, opted to stand by their guns in the hope of stopping the charge dead with canister at close range. This didn’t happen (despite the strong odds) and not only was the battery ridden into the dirt, but the third British battalion in this brigade, thinking itself safe, also was destroyed in the charge. (Lesson 2, never underestimate how much damage charging horse can do!)

Vistula Lancers ride a British battery into the ground and scatter a battalion of infantry on the British right.

The charge, however, drove the lancers deep into the enemy line, and, receiving more hits from flanking fire from the squares they were forced to retire and the flank held.
Meanwhile, on the French right, the foreign brigade was in trouble, as the stubborn British battalion on this flank refused to give up anymore ground. The Rifles, too, held fast against repeated attempts to flush them from their central position in the woods. The French finally pulled back their skirmishers and brought up cannon to try and drive them out. 

French light infantry are driven off by the Rifles...

And a French battery is brought up to try and drive the skirmishers out.

The French commander, wanting to support his struggling troops on his far right decided that, rather than have these irksome Rifles hold up the attack any longer, he would throw his strong brigade across the stream to hit the British line on the enemy’s centre and bypass them completely.
The enemy battalion facing this threat, let loose a devastating volley and then charged the enemy, throwing him back down the hill and into the following line, destroying it as the two battalions became interpenetrated with one another.

Huzzah! British fire and charge French centre.

As if things weren’t going badly enough for the poor French, a brigade was also marching into disaster on their far left. With the British cannon destroyed on this flank and now the entire British brigade in square, the French columns, thinking themselves now safe and supported by cavalry, skirted around the Rifles in the centre to bring pressure on the British right. 

French march on British squares.

Hussars charge into the french columns.

But lurking between the squares was the British cavalry, which charged the lead French battalion. It failed to form emergency square and was destroyed, the spent lancers next to them were caught flat-footed and routed, and then the second French battalion also ridden down before able to form square. In an instant the French attack on the left was annihilated, and devolved into fruitless charges and countercharges between the remaining French hussars and their British counterparts.

Lancers rout from the field, despite the best attempts from their officer to stop them.

With the French left decimated, the British commander could begin to move his centre and right over to help his left. The Rifles were pulled back from the stream, continuing to skirmish with the French light while in a series of subsequent attacks, the French were driven off the British high ground. 

Huzzah again! A second French battalon is scattered.

Wesphalians make one last attempt at cracking the British right.

The only final success on the part of the French was the destruction of a second British battery by artillery fire, but as two or three more French battalions were routed or destroyed, there were no troops left to exploit the French advantage in guns.

British battery silenced by French fire.

The final butcher’s bill was one battalion and two batteries lost for the British to six battalions of infantry and a brigade of horse lost to the French. So a resounding victory for the British.

French hussars also routed form the field.

Post Mortem

The game was a lot of fun and I loved this rule set. I’m thinking that there are two or three optional rules I may let go as either too fussy or just too hard for me to remember (for now at least!) but overall I loved the look and feel of this game. I wasn’t using Orders either, which would make a huge difference, but I wanted the freedom to simply try things out. Employing entire battalions as skirmish screens looked and felt right on the table and made skirmishers seem a bit less abstracted than they are in the core rules. I loved the interaction between horse and infantry squares, the vulnerability of infantry not in square, and how in this game the British right simply formed into a series of squares with interlocking fields of fire as the only reasonable response to enemy horse. The British ability to volley and charge against the French (mostly attacking in columns) was devastating for the French and felt right.
So eager to have another go!