One of the games I played in at this year’s Operation Market Larden was a superbly presented I Ain’t Been Shot Mum scenario put on by Phil and Jenny.
Iaon and I would lead tanks from the Welsh Guards supported by motorised infantry from the Grenadier Guards in a race across Belgium to be the first units into Brussels. Historically, the only opposition encountered was in the town of Halle, and that’s what the day’s affairs would recreate. Our mission was to get a “significant force” off either of the bridges at the other end of the table.
To open proceedings, we sent our Household Cavalry armoured cars forward along the road into Halle with orders to spot the opposition, following up with two squadrons of tanks supported by the Company HQ. The infantry were lagging behind a bit but, at the time, this didn’t look to be too much of a problem.
Our reconnaissance in strength worked perfectly. One of the Cavalry armoured cars spotted an enemy Tiger tank and every single tank we had on the table opened fire at it!
Despite it’s in-cover position, we hit the thing eleven times, but the shells from our Cromwells just bounced off its armour. Fortunately, we had a couple of Sherman Firefly tanks as well, and the very last tank to open fire, with its very last round, rolled a double six for extra penetrations. Even that didn’t brew the beast up, but its crew were forced to bail out, ears bleeding!
That was, however, the very last thing that went right for us that day and, worse, I have to confess that what happened next was all my fault!
With the Tiger out of the way, we decided to push forward. I lost an armoured car to an enemy half-track with anti-tank gun, but at least I now had infantry in in the outskirts of the town.
At this point, however, I just lost my concentration or something. Who knows: maybe I was tired from a week’s work (it was my first five day week back in London for some time) and had got up early to make the two hour trip to Evesham but that’s no excuse: I probably wasn’t as tired as the Guardsmen I was representing had been!
Whatever, what I should have done is used the infantry to move through the town looking to clear a path for the tanks to get through. Or, even better, sent the tanks, again supported by infantry, up onto the railway embankment, now that the Tiger protecting it was gone, with effectively a clear path through to the railway bridge.
But I didn’t.
In a moment of madness I sent the tanks into the town to fight their way through!
It was an unmitigated disaster. There were two German infantry platoons in the town, both carrying a Panzerfaust in each squad, and I ran smack bang into both of them. They don’t tell you to never take unsupported armour into a built up area for nothing, you know!
Mike, a long-time friend and opponent, couldn’t believe his eyes, and gleefully took full advantage of the situation. I lost six tanks in the first round of the German ambush, and two more almost immediately after that!
The writing was on the wall from that point forwards and, as the clock ticked towards the lunchtime bell, I was left to merely salvage what I could from the debacle I had caused!
So an utter defeat for the Guards, and a very uncomfortable “interview without coffee” waiting for me back at HQ!
Incidentally, the only tank to get over the bridge was the Squadron commander’s vehicle, although we did have another section that showed how easy it should have been!
My thanks to Phil and Jenny for putting on a great-looking game, and to my fellow players. I am, of course, now itching to play the scenario again so this time I can get it right!
Robert Avery