June 8th 1944. Oberfunker Weber set his field radio on the ground and began working the many dials on its surface. He received a signal from the 88 battery positioned in Carentan some kilometers south of his position at the Douve River. The battery had succeeded in pushing the American assault back before, but he knew that they would be back soon, and in greater number. He remembered what Leutnant Schnitznel von Crumb had told him this morning, their orders were to push across the river and capture the American fuel reserves thereby denying the American armor the resources needed to secure the beachheads they formed two days ago.
The Douve River
On the North side of the Douve, Private Jack Worker aimed down the gunners sights of his 57mm anti tank gun. He spied across the river and could barely make out the fortified German positions in the distance. His orders were clear, shoot anything that moved over the opposite side of the bridge so that our forces could storm across and secure the German positions. This was needed for the final push into the town of Carentan. Private Worker froze as he spotted movement in the 'abandoned' farm stead near the Southern rivers edge, he saw a group of grenadiers emerge and begin sneaking up to the river crossings. He called out to his comrades that the enemy had been spotted. The battle for the Douve had begun!
US 2nd Lieutenant McCormick told his radio operator to call for air support, as more and more German infantry began to advance across the muddy and cratered farms on the southern side of the Douve. The young communications man began to frantically twist the knobs on his field radio and speak into the receiver. McCormick gave the signal for the attack to begin and the paratroopers, exhausted from the previous days of combat, began to advance towards the bridge. Private Worker called for a shell to be loaded into his gun and fired a round screaming across the river into the farmstead that the Grenadiers were clambering out of. The shot was a direct hit and a grenadier was blown to pieces by the blast. At the same time the US machine gun team opened up on the same group and sent the grenadiers straight down into the muddy field. Oberfunker Weber grabbed his radio receiver and called in an
artillery barrage onto the American side of the river as the
paratroopers gathered on the road. Leutnant Von Crumb ordered his men to advance as his own machine gun teams lay suppressing fire onto the advancing paratroopers. Two grenadier squads, supported by a Puma armored car, advanced up the Western flank of the road and took position in the woodlands flanking the rivers edge. The other units began their advance to the Eastern edge where a shallow crossing provided another passage across the running river. The Americans were doing much the same, advancing straight for the bridge in an attempt to secure it before the Germans could.
A direct hit on the Grenadier squad emerging from the farmstead
The artillery barrage heavily pinned the US infantry
As the Americans advanced down the road a whistling in the sky signaled the arrival of the artillery shells from the Carentan battery. Lieutenant McCormick and two of his infantry squads were caught directly under the barrage of fire and were pummeled by the blasts. McCormick turned to his radio operator and demanded to know where their air support was, but before he could answer, a direct hit from a shell left nothing but a smoking crater where the American Lieutenant once stood. The infantry squads were pinned down and helpless until the fire ended. Seizing the initiative the Grenadier squads advanced towards the bridge and peppered the squads with MG34 and rifle fire as the Puma covered their advance.
Leaderless the Americans began to falter, their infantry squads were heavily pinned, their air observer was shell shocked and couldn't operate his radio and their 57mm gun was working overtime sending shell after shell at the advancing German infantry. By a miracle, the NCOs of the paratrooper squads rallied their men and got them back into the fight! The Germans would not be able to get rid of US paratroopers so easily! As the first Germans began to cross the bridge they were met with a hail of Garand and automatic rifle fire killing many of their number. The Germans charged across the bridge into the awaiting infantry squads and a fierce melee broke out, despite killing 2 paratroopers the grenadiers were overpowered and killed to a man. As Von Crumb and his squad approached the shallow clearing in the river they were greeted by a squad of US combat engineers waiting on the other side. The veteran infantry fired at Von Crumb and his men with little effect, a fierce reply of Stg44 fire killed a number of the veterans and caused them to keep their heads down.
The battle seemed to be turning in the Americans favor, a US infantry squad advanced for the bridge which had now been cleared of Germans. The US bazooka team scored a direct hit on the Puma, failing to knock out the vehicle, but rattling the crew inside. The US air observer regained his wits and called in clear instructions to the fighter bombers circling above. Oberfunker Weber could see that this was the moment for destiny manifest, he jumped from his dug out and began to sprint towards the bridge - he knew he would be able to ignite the fuel dump that lay on the other side. 
Americans begin to retake the bridge.
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| German counter attack back over the bridge |
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| A direct hit from a P-47 onto the puma |
Time seemed to slow as he approached the reserves, he was so focused he didn't even notice the American bazooka team hiding amongst the sandbags which flanked the fuel. It was too late, he stared down at the bayonet in his stomach, the trembling hands of the American soldier who stabbed him struggled to pull the weapon free. Clutching his wound Weber fell to the ground... as he lay there he could hear the familiar voice of Von Crumb calling for a fighting retreat back across the bridge as the Americans retreated back towards St Come Du Mont. Then, all faded to black...
Our first game to end in a draw! Neither side was able to destroy the enemy base. The game ended on turn 6 and had we gone to turn 7 it was very likely that this would have ended as a German victory but that's the beauty of bolt action - you never know what will happen! We both had a lot of fun using the artillery and air observers (despite the American air support not arriving until turn 4 including a re-roll!). I was also really happy with the terrain I had made for this battle, the bridge and river looked great out there on the table so I'll be looking for any excuse to get them back out again.
Bring on game 6 - the Battle for Carentan!
Singing out,
Chewie.
