Battle Report: Assault on the Flak Battery

 

 

The mighty Flakvierling 38 looks out over the battlefield.

September 1944 - Somewhere near Eindhoven. It was a hot and muggy morning as the British Paratroopers prepared to launch their assault on the German flak gun position. The objective was to take out the enemy gun, which had been causing havoc for the allied air forces. The paratroopers, led by 1st Lieutenant Jameson, had been scattered behind enemy lines and had been moving through the forest and farmland towards their objective.

 

Paratroopers organise and advance under
the command of 1st Lieutenant Jameson

As they approached the enemy position, they came under heavy fire from luftwaffe soldiers positioned at the flak gun battery. The paratroopers quickly took cover behind nearby trees and returned fire with their Lee-Enfield rifles. The sound of gunfire echoed through the forest as the two sides engaged in a fierce firefight.

Captain Jameson quickly assessed the situation and ordered his men to flank the enemy position. The paratroopers split into two groups, with one group providing covering fire using the 50. cal mounted on a jeep, while the other moved to the side of the enemy position. The Germans, spotted the paratroopers moving towards their flank and killed all but the lone sergeant in a hail of 20mm Flak fire!

The paratroopers charge the Luftwaffe infantry.

As the covering fire intensified, the paratroopers in the centre rushed forward, bayonets fixed on their rifles with a powerful cry of "Woaaahh Mohammad!". The Luftwaffe troops, caught off guard, tried to bring their rifles to bear. But it was too late. The paratroopers were upon them, firing their rifles and stabbing with their bayonets.

The Germans fought back fiercely, but the paratroopers were too close and too determined. In a matter of minutes, the enemy positions were taken. Lieutenant Jameson ordered his men to continue their advance and the troopers quickly took cover in a wheat field just 50 yards away from the Flak gun.

The PIAT team advances towards the dug in Flak gun

As the paratroopers secured the position, a team of soldiers equipped with PIAT slowly and stealthily made their towards the Flak gun using a wrecked Panzer IV as cover. As they reached a point just a few meters from the gun, Private Baker redied his weapon, took a deep breath, and fired. The explosive charge from the PIAT struck the sandbags protecting the gun and Baker and his loader were instantly cut down in a volley of rifle and MG42 fire! The Flak gun swung around and began to take aim on the paratroopers in the field.

The Flakveirling fires into the
advancing paratroopers.

As the gun fired out into the field the Paratroopers hit the deck and amazingly only a few were wounded in the vicious volley of explosive shells. Rallied by the presence of Lieutenant Jameson they stood up, readied their bayonets and filled the air with a cry as they descended onto gun emplacement. The vicious melee which broke out lasted only a few moments as the gun crew were slain and the gun destroyed with a well placed explosive charge. 

The British paratroopers had accomplished their mission as the remaining germans scattered towards the nearby town. They had silenced the enemy flak gun and secured an important strategic position. But the victory had come at a cost. Several paratroopers had been killed in the intense firefight.

The gun is overun and destroyed by the paratroopers. Their mission is complete!

As they waited for more airborne troops to land, the paratroopers looked out over the quiet fields, thinking about the sacrifices they had made and the lives lost in the pursuit of victory. But they also knew that their efforts had helped to bring them one step closer to ending the war and bringing peace to Europe.

Another cracker of a game! I was a bit worried how balanced the scenario would be given that I had just made it up and this was our first time play testing but it seemed to go quite well. The gun not being able to fire without drawing its specific dice was a nice touch which let the British player take some risks with the order of activations as the German player couldn't rely on when the gun would fire. 

The gun was definitely powerful and while it had some terrible rolls (didn't blow up a jeep and barely killed any paratroopers in the field) when it did connect with the squad on the flank it easily killed the entire squad bar 1 man!

I would play this scenario again and perhaps increase the points to 1000 and add two guns! So all in all I would say this was a great success! 

Signing out,

Chewie.

Scenario: Assault on the Flak Battery

Missing our Normandy campaign and in anticipation for a future Market Garden campaign I have decided to have another crack at making a fun scenario to scratch the itch and give me a great excuse to field my new Flakvierling 38!

The scenario is named "Assault on the Flak Battery" and is an attacker and defender scenario played on a 4'x4' board. 

 

German Flugzeugabwehrkanone (Flak) 38

SCENARIO: ASSAULT ON THE FLAK BATTERY

Background: September 17th 1944:  British 1st Airborne Division have been dropped into multiple towns across the Netherlands as part of the allies bold plan Operation Market Garden. Blown off course by fierce flak fire a group of paratroopers find themselves far from their LZ and objectives. Rallied together by a daring 1st Lieutenant the hastily organised forces spot a German Flak gun firing wildly into the sky. The Brits spring to action with a plan to silence the gun and give their boys in the sky a chance at coming in safe!

FORCES:

British 1st Airborne:

First Lieutenant and man with SMGs. (Veteran)

Paratroop Section (Veteran)
4 Infantry with rifles
1 Infantry with SMG
1 NCO with SMG

Paratroop Section (Veteran)
4 Infantry with rifles
1 Infantry with SMG
1 NCO with SMG

Paratroop Section (Veteran)
4 Infantry with rifles
1 Infantry with LMG (Requires loader)
1 NCO with SMG

PIAT Team (Veteran)

Jeep (Veteran)
Pintle-mounted MMG.

 

176th Luftwaffe Flak Division:

Second Lieutenant and man with SMGs. (Regular)

Luftwaffe Defence Squad (Regular)*
4 Infantry with rifles
1 NCO with SMG
1 man has Panzerfause in addition to other weapons.

Luftwaffe Defence Squad (Regular)*
4 Infantry with rifles
1 NCO with SMG
1 man has Panzerfause in addition to other weapons.

Heer Grenadier Squad (Regular)
3 Infantry with rifles
1 Infantry with Assault rifle
1 NCO with SMG

Heer Grenadier Squad (Regular)
3 Infantry with rifles
1 Infantry with Assault rifle
1 NCO with SMG

Medium Machine Gun Team (Regular)

20mm Flakvierling 38 (Regular)
Gun Shield

*These squads have the Shirkers special rule.

SET-UP: 

The Flak gun should be placed in an entrenched position in the centre 6" from the defenders edge. The terrain leading to the flak gun should be a mixture of soft and hard cover with many of line of sight blocking elements.

The defender sets up at most half of his units (rounding down and including the gun) 12" from his table edge. Units that are not set up to start with are left in reserve. The attacker's units are not set up on the table at the start of the game. The attacker must nominate at least half of his force to form his first wave. This can be the entire army if he wishes. Any unit not included in the first wave is left in reserve.

Reserves are allowed to outflank in this scenario.

SPECIAL RULES:

Keep that Flak firing!
The Flak gun is too busy firing into the sky and is unable to fire at ground targets in the first turn. In addition, the order dice for the Flak gun should be  a separate colour from the defender and attacker order dice. The Flak gun can only activate when this specific order dice is drawn.

Well Crewed
The Flak gun has 1 extra crew member from what is noted in Armies of Germany book.

OBJECTIVE:

The attacker must try and silence the Flak gun. To silence the gun all of the gun crew must be killed or routed.

PREPARATORY BOMBARDMENT:

As this strike is carried deep behind enemy lines there is no preparatory barrage used in this scenario. 

FIRST TURN:

The battle begins. During turn 1, the attacker must move his entire first wave onto the table. These units can enter the table from any point on the attackers table edge, and must be given either a run or advance order. Note that no order test is required to move units on the table as part of the first wave. 

GAME DURTAION:

Keep a count of how many turns have elapsed as the game is played. At the end of turn 6, roll a die. On a result of 1,2 or 3 the game ends, on a roll of 4,5 or 6 play one further final turn. 

VICTORY:

As soon as all the crew are destroyed or routed then the game ends and the attacker wins.
At the end of the final turn, if the Flak gun still has at least 1 crew member, then the defenders win. 

I'm very keen to play this out and I think it could be a bit of fun. The theme could easily be extended to any other airborne invasion in WWII (Normandy, Crete, Sicily) with only some minor tweaking and expanded to say 1000 points (perhaps even two guns or a whole battery!). I'm looking forward to a great game and I hope the scenario can inspire others to design their own or improve and expand on this one!

Signing off,

Chewie