Although US reconnaissance units failed to locate the bridge over the river Moire, other American troops managed to beat off a German counter-attack near Belle Maison, allowing American engineers to throw their own bridge across the Moire. This allowed the Americans to assault Pierrecourt from the flank but, despite this advantage, the attack failed. Now the Germans counterattack from south of Belle Maison.
So off we set again with the fourth game in the Normandy campaign. Again I played the Germans this time aided by Steve with the Allies being played by John and Barry; Ralph was sadly delayed by an unfortunate incident with a pothole and so missed the game!
As the Germans had halted the American attack at Pierrecourt they were back on the counter offensive again; oh how I hate attacking with Germans. This time with a combined force of 30th Panther and 30th Panzer Grenadier regiments.
Luckily this involved a considerable number of Panthers with a quite strong reconnaissance armoured car platoon which included one Puma and two SdKfz 231 or 232s. Plenty of armoured force there then.
Also available were three infantry platoons, one of which was mounted in half tracks and a small infantry headquarters team with a single SdKfz 251/9.
However the Germans possessed no offboard artillery or air support and when combined with a lack of mortars this job was going to be a difficult one.
The Germans started their offensive with the two dismounted Panzer Grenadier platoons advancing along the sides of two parallel Boccage hedgerows leading up to the southern side of the town of Belle Maison in the hope of flushing out some early American elements in that portion of the battlefield.
That it certainly did and they were very soon under fire from a house in the second row of terraces; in fact a couple of Armoured Infantry sections supported by a pair of LMG teams, however little damage was done except for the occasional shock marker being received.
The building with the grey tiled roof contains a couple of Armoured Infantry sections with additional LMG teams in the front yard.
Being Americans, of course they were blessed with considerable offboard artillery and air support so very quickly their Forward Observation Officer was on the phone to call in support from their offboard Priests.
The Germans decided to bring on several of their dummy blinds and push them forward as observation teams quickly conducting a series of tests to scan the hedgerows and closest buildings in the town.
Very rapidly they sought to determine there was little if anything in their way and so felt safe to bring on their armoured support in the form of a couple of understrength Panther troops. In the absence of any off-road artillery these were quickly brought into play as mobile artillery platforms, each training their weapons on any observed allied infantry in the town. They caused reasonable damage but their main effect was the regularity with which they set light buildings and although the occupants were relatively unscathed they were quickly distracted from their defensive actions by having to take to their heels and evacuate the buildings.
This worked extremely well for the Germans who were able to learn to continue their advance and occupy the spaces vacated by the American forward troops.
One area of hedgerow that had not been scanned was on the German extreme right-wing where the armoured headquarter section comprising of a further two Panthers encountered three Sherman tanks, one of whom was sporting a 76 mm gun. However these were quickly addressed with through a succession of beneficial German cards being turned up and all three Shermans were dealt with. It was a surprise to see the Allied armour so far forward but it was not to be a unique case as on the extreme left hand flank the German recce section was soon spotted by another Sherman platoon and a short firefight ensued.
The German Puma armoured car took a bit of a pasting but survived and its colleagues quickly opened up their auto cannons in response to the attack. The nearest pair of Panther tanks joined in the fray and soon the Americans were under a relentless torrent of anti-tank fire; quickly losing this armoured wing also.
One of the command group Panthers had suffered damage during its engagement on the right flank and so the advance on that part of the battlefield became a little delayed as result of its engine damage; but more so because of the fear of having sighted an American bazooka team working in a small copse.
The Germans on the right flank had taken some losses on their accompanying infantry platoon and needed to get the remnants forward to support their tanks before they could safely advance.
That switched the emphasis of the German attack back onto the left flank; the centre almost being avoided as a result of the fire storm that hit the village in that sector. Most of the buildings in the first row of terraces were now in flames.
The armoured cars buzzed about trying to suppress infantry in the remaining buildings whilst for Panthers scoured for new targets. Throwing caution to the wind one Panther drove through the sector where the second Sherman platoon had been, through the gap in the Boccage hedgerow and straight into the crosshairs of an American anti-tank gun. The 3 inch gun was a powerful weapon indeed but the initial salvo shots failed to penetrate the big cat and it returned fire killing one of the crew.
It was now down to the sequence of cards being drawn following the intermediate tea break and sure enough the Panther had its card drawn out first. It raced forward up the hill towards the church intent on turning the corner of another edge and overrunning the gun. However its movement dice fell slightly short of the intended tormentors and it was left without any further actions awaiting its fate. Strangely, this came from another quarter as a second 3 inch anti-tank gun opened up with a further salvo and eventually the force of arms overcame the beast.
Luckily, the Big Man commander within escaped unharmed and his card turned up subsequently.
This saw him belt across the open fields and commandeer the other tank in his platoon.
The fight continued in this area with American infantry being pursued back towards the church, but time was starting to tell and the Americans were losing resources at an unparalleled rate.
Martyn, our umpire, called a halt and after some pondering he awarded another victory to the German forces.
It had been another heck of a mentally demanding game and left the players feeling they'd actually be in the hedgerows all day.
Tim Whitworth
