The Gembloux Gap Campaign Battle 02 - Palm-Off At Perbais II

As the French platoon of 110 Infantry Regiment had managed to hold on to Perbais in the first battle, the Germans of 3 Rifle Regiment had to launch a second attack to break through the French defences, which were becoming progressively more stretched.  Neither side received any replacements but the French also received less support from higher HQ...

 

 

This is the first scenario from the book, which covers a section of the fighting on 15th May between 3 Panzer Division and 1st Motorized Infantry Division.  The rules used are again "The Farquhar Variant", an adaptation of the WRG 1950-75 (second edition?) rules for WW2 by John D Salt.

The Forces:

The French

1 x Rifle command group

2 x Rifle + LMG groups

2 x Rifle groups

1 x Renault R35

1 x Panhard

The Germans

1 x SMG command group

5 x Rifle groups

3 x GPMG teams

1 x Light mortar (50mm) teams

Additionally, the Germans ended up receiving the following reinforcements during the battle:

1 x SMG command group (the Company commander)

1 x PAK36 and mover

1 x le.IG18

1 x Car

1 x Motorcycle Section (3 x motorcycle-sidecar combinations, dismounting to 2 x Rifle groups, 1 x LMG team)

1 x 50mm light mortar team

1 x FOO team with 4 x 8cm mortars in direct support (3 rounds worth of support)

2 x Stukas

Again, the Germans have to break through the defences, or break the opposing French force; the French must stop them.

The Set-Up:

The battlefield - the Germans approach from the right and bottom-right

The French have adopted a more dispersed deployment than in the first battle to try and avoid the effects of German artillery which caused such destruction in the first game

The French platoon commander is just outside the long building, with the R35 in support behind it; the Panhard is across the road

The second French squad is in the hedgeline, covering the open space

The Battle:

The first group of Germans arrives: a 37mm anti-tank gun, the le.IG18 and a couple of vehicles to move everything in; luckily they are out of sight of the French defenders

A German squad and a couple of 50mm mortars turn up

The French spot the Germans who have just arrived but fail to do any damage (right)

The Germans move out of the open behind the house and hedges

The German company commander arrives, along with the dismounted motorcycle squad; it immediately comes under the fire of the French LMG gunner and riflemen over in the hedges

The German air support arrives!

One aircraft cannot see anything but the other spots the French armour and dives...

The bombs hit very close to the French armour...but the French vehicles are basically fine

One of the French FM24 gunners gets his range and cuts down the le.IG18 crew!

The Panhard and the Pak36 exchange shots: the Panhard misses, the Pak36 hits but does no damage

German mortarmen get their range in turn, and half of the French first squad fall over on the left flank (bottom)

The German fire base has been built up quite nicely

The survivors of the French first squad beat a hasty retreat

The French armoured vehicles redeploy out of the arcs of the German anti-tank gun, to cover the French left instead

The German company commander gets a good view of the battle from the upper floors of the building

The German infantry have quickly charged across the wheatfield...

The French riflemen haven't been able to get away quickly enough, and surrender!

The French have been forced bakc from the first hedgeline too and are reorganizing behind the garage

The German Platoon command group turns up

The Renault R35 has moved forward to engage the advancing German infantry trying to get over the hedge

Meanwhile, the German Forward Observer for the mortar battery arrives

and moves up to the building

The French re-organize their defences with their few remaining troops

Two more German sections turn up

Another shot

The Germans call in their mortars

The second salvo hits home: four French soldiers become casualties

At this point, the French commander gives up and the survivors withdraw

The Renault R35 escapes too

The position at the end of the battle; the Germans had brought up their 37mm to the edge of the village (centre), protected by some infantry...but the French have gone

 Game Notes: 

Good fun, although the French did feel a bit thin - the challenges of campaigns!  The Germans lost 2 KIA, 5 WIA; the French lots 2 KIA, 6 WIA and 4 unwounded prisoners.

 

The artillery mechanisms and air attack mechanisms were tested again and were fine.  This game also featured an (ineffective) exchange of fire between the German anti-tank gun and the Panhard; the 37mm managed a couple of hits but both failed to penetrate at a range of about 150m.  As far as I am reading the numbers this is working as designed, but is very different perhaps to some other sets.  Unlike other sets, surrendering is a thing which can happen too: here, because some of the French infantrymen were not able to retreat fast enough because of the hedges.  This feels quite realistic, I was happy with this.  That comment might apply to the game as a whole: the majority of damage and suppression to the French was done with mortars, infantry guns, air support and artillery...which actually felt like World War Two!

I haven't had a proper look yet at Platoon Forward, which I will do before the next battle, but I did modify the Threat Generation System a little.  Three changes:

1 - I made a bespoke 'location' system to load the odds of where the opposition will turn up to make it scenario specific rather than the more generic directional mechanism in TGS.

2 - If a card was drawn which generates a physical enemy force, then another card is drawn immediately and so on until a blank is drawn and they arrive in a group.

3 - All the enemy forces start on the baseline.

The first two worked well but I don't like the last.  The third, less so - I want that integrated into the observation rules.  I am pretty sure I know how to do it, so changes afoot soon.  I am wondering if I should send these off to one of the magazines, since it is sufficiently different from TGS to do that. Still pondering.

Anyhow, more soon, although I have a couple of Polemos Ruse de Guerre games to do first.  German stuff is by Baccus and GHQ, with the aircraft from PSC; the French infantry is from Adler and the vehicles from H&R.  Buildings are from Leven, walls from Baccus. All on a 60cm x 60cm table representing 300m x 300m.