Battle Report: The Battle for Les Forges

Back after our third game of Bolt action and time for the Battle report for scenario 3: THe Battle for Les Forges. The battle was Scenario 7: Envelopment with the US attacking the German infantry dug in off the National Road 13. The US forces had to reach the German line and secure the position for the gliders which were set to land tonight. 

 The battlefield was as follows: 

The German forces had dug in the trench line with bunker at the northern edge. A knocked out Sherman sit smouldering on national road 13 and the surrounding farmland was cratered from allied bombing runs earlier that morning.

2pm June 6th 1944: Gefreiter Wilhelm scanned the countryside overlooking National Road 13. His Pak40 gun was dug in well and ready to fire on any enemy that might appear over the plains before him. The smouldering ruin of a Sherman which was knocked out while trudging down the road spilled black smoke into the air. Leutnant Weiner Von Wurst had decided that this is where the 91st Infantrie Division would make their stand against the US forces which were en route to the Douvre river and no doubt Carentan. 

Suddenly from the sky,  two US P-47 thunderbolts screamed through the clouds and dropped their bombs onto the German line. This preliminary bombardment not only pinned the German forces down and killed Von Wurst's aid, but also signaled the beginning of the US attack. Sure enough from the hills over the other side of the road the US forces came.

The M8 Armored Car is knocked out by accurate Pak40 Fire

 Stunned by the bombing run the Germans had no choice but to rally their men before the US advance. Taking advantage of this confusion, 2nd Lieutenant Chad McCormick ordered his men to advance across the fields and reach the German line. It was essential that the area be cleared before the arrival of Glider infantry into DZ "W" scheduled for tonight. He ordered his Veteran Engineers, armed with a fearsome flamethrower, to advance behind the M8 Greyhound armored car which popped ineffective shots off at the German infantry who were down in the trenches.

 Gefreiter Wilhelm spotted the armored car approaching and spun his Pak40 to take aim at it. Against all odds his crew shrugged off the concussive effect of the bombing run and fired an armor piercing shell directly into the front of the M8. With a roar of fire the vehicle exploded as the Pak40 shell struck the ammunition rack within the turret. A cry of cheers rang from the German trenches as the grendiers moved up into the tree line to ready their machine guns.  Lieutenant McCormick gritted his teeth as he watched the vehicle explode. He knew there would be a lot of casualties today but the job needed to be done. He ordered everyone forward under the covering fire of mortar and machine gun as he ushered a bazooka team down the right flank towards the PAK40's dug in position.

The Us infantry continue their advance behind the wrecked Sherman

Von Wurst ordered the machine gun team in the bunker to fire at the approaching infantry but they were still shaken by the aerial attack and refused to fire. As the US infantry moved up into the bombed out fields the tree lines lit up with the fire of MG34s and Kar98s from the other grenadier squads holding the line. A few US infantrymen fell under the hail of bullets, but their resolve held and they continued the offense. Gefrieter Wilhelm readied the Pak40 again as mortar fire began to zero in on his positioned. He let a shell scream across the field and it struck a group of Americans as they dashed to one of the craters. A few of the men were blown apart and the rest of the squad had no choice but to hit the deck and go down. The bazooka team snuck up from the farmhouse and fired a shell at the Pak40 gun, but the shell hit nothing but sandbags surrounding the dug in gun team.

The US infantry advance under heavy fire

The American infantry began to return fire on the Germans in the tree line. Their expert shooting took down five grenadiers in a single volley causing the survivors to waver. The Pak40 gun swiveled to fire into the advancing infantry but before they could aim an American mortar shell scored a direct hit and killed Gefreiter Wilhem and his crew.

A direct hit on the Pak40 killed the entire crew

The bazooka team dashed from their cover aiming to occupy the now empty gun pit, but they were cut down from Stg44 fire from the grenadier team advancing through the forests. Von Wurst surveyed the battlefield and realized this was the moment for action - he ordered his men to snap to action and both the machine gun in the bunker and the trench line fired with devastating effect into the advancing US infantry. Even under the covering fire of their own machine gun team, the US forces had no choice but to go down as a withering hail of bullets cut into them. Von Wurst did not let up, he ordered again and again for the machine guns to still fire till their barrels were red hot. 

The grenadiers in the forest ambush the bazooka team

Lieutenant McCormick's men were floundering on the field and the losses were so heavy that the infantry squads were being killed to the man. He surveyed the battlefield and realized that this was a lost cause, the German position was too well fortified and he would need to retreat and wait for armored reinforcements. He called his men back and they fled the fields of Les Forges amid the smoke and flames from the battle - the gliders would be on their own...

 

 

Another cracker game from our campaign and quite a convincing victory for the German side. The US forces were a little too apprehensive about closing the ground and wasted a few turns returning fire when they probably should have been closing the gap to put the flamethrower to use. A few lucky dice rolls on either side sealed the deal but I think the game could have gone either way.

We will have to see how the dice roll at our next battle - The battle for St Come-du-Mont!

Signing off,

Chewie