June 8th St Come du Mont. The smouldering wreck of a US tank marks the ‘Dead mans corner’ on national road 13. Tank commander Sam Jackson, leading the push to Carentan, knows that St Come du Mont must be secured for the success of the allied invasion, however, the Fallshchirmjager ‘Green Devils’ stand in his way. The key objectives of the town would need to be captured and held until reinforcements could arrive and solidify the US hold on the town.
The town of St Come du Mont
Jackson ordered his tank forward as the US forces advanced down national road 13 under the cover of medium machine team. He scanned the path down the road with his binoculars and all seemed quiet, however, he knew that the Germans were here and they would not be leaving without a fight.
As the US veteran glider
infantry advanced up the western flank of the town they were ambushed by a
Sdkfz 234 ‘Puma’ which cut down two of their number with a burst of fire from
it’s MG. Leutnant Bernard Klosterkemper ordered his men to snap to action and
the Fallschirmjager took up position in the bombed out buildings of the town. Quickly shouts filled the air as the German
troops scrambled into position and the bursts of machine gun fire filled the
streets. 
The German infantry take up position to repel the US attack on the objective.
 |
| The Puma erupts in a ball of flame. |
Moving into position to fire
his Bazooka, Private Joe Mangelio and his loader dashed into the middle of the
street and began to aim. A shot rang out from a nearby building and Joe’s
loader fell to the ground dead. The deadly results of a German sniper team. The
grenadier squads continue their fire as the US infantry squads backed up by the
Sherman continued their advance. Klosterkemper ordered a machine gun team to
fire at the Glider infantry as they entered an alley between two bombed out
buildings. Despite their unfavourable position the quick thinking and expert
training of the glider units resulted in only one of their men being wounded by
the spray of bullets. The US forces returned fire killing several Fallschirmjager
in return. The veteran Sturmpioneer squad dashed through houses and opened fire
from close range on another group of glider infantry killing several of them
including their sergeant and causing the rest to flee. 
The flamethrower on the Sturmpioneer squad causes heavy casualties on the US infantry.
Seeing the gout of flame from
the Sturmpioneers flamethrower, Tank Commander Jackson ordered his vehicle to
pivot and open fire with all machine guns on the pioneers. The coaxial and hull
MMGs sprayed a torrent of bullets pinning the pioneers and forcing them to keep
down. The German sniper team continued to pick off men and killed a member of
the US machine gun team who were covering the infantry’s advance. Meanwhile,
Private Joe Mangelio steadied his bazooka and despite the pinning fire of the Germans
managed to land a shell amongst the grenadiers in the sandbag emplacement
killing one of them. As the smoke cleared he watched in horror as the advancing
US combat engineer squad was wiped to a man by bursts of MG42 fire. The battle
for the town hung in the balance. 
Joe fires his bazooka into the grenadiers
Seizing the initiative, the US veterans sprang forward and vicious close range fighting ensued. The veteran US troops shot down the grenadiers in the alley and forced the sturmpioneers to surrender. Klosterkemper himself was cut down while firing off his Stg44 into the US troops storming his building. Jacksons Sherman advanced and aimed its turret down the crossroads of the town firing on the fleeing German infantry. Joe loaded his bazooka and dashed back out into the street, the German sniper cracked a shot off at him which did not find its mark. He took a knee, aimed the zooka up at the building containing the sniper and blasted away the floor. A plume of plaster smoke filled the air and the fire from the building ceased.
US Armor covers the advancing infantry as they secure the town.
Disregarding their orders to advance and capture the central objective, the remaining Germans fled from their positions and retreated towards Carentan. For them this battle was over. Holding the centre of the crossroads, Joe looked out over the bombed out town, his fellow countrymen dead all around him. They had captured the town but at great cost… how many more would die before they reached Carentan?
Once again it was a cracker of a game and came down to the last dice on turn 7. Had the sniper hit joe and killed him off the objective the game would have been a draw so was a real nail biter! Next mission will be 'Crossing the Douvre' and I am currently building some river and bridges for the battle!
Until next time,
Signing off,
Chewie
