Battle Report: The battle for Saint-Côme-du-Mont

 

June 8^th 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.

Jackson ordered his gunner to zero in on the Puma which was continuing to fire on the US infantry. Despite only having an obscured shot at the front armor of the car, the shot was a direct hit. The high explosive shell penetrated and the crew were vapourised in a ball of fire throwing scraps of metal all around Klosterkemper and his men. The grenadier squads took position among the sandbag emplacements and opened fire on the combat engineer squad advancing up the main road killing several of the engineers. Under heavy fire the glider infantry squads continued their advanced up the road with the bazooka team close behind. 

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