The defence of Pierrecourt was the third game in our Normandy 1944 campaign from the Two Fat Lardies campaign booklet Blenneville or Bust! Ralph and John again played the Allies whilst I played the Germans and Martin kindly umpired the whole thing.
In our first campaign game I had beaten off the American reconnaissance in force and put them on the back foot which resulted in the second game being a German counter-attack. However that failed in a bizarre game which used mainly Blinds and just a couple of units on the table. Lots of things learned in that game, however this resulted in scenario #3C being played. I found myself on the back foot yet again, but this time defending quite a considerable built-up area surrounded by a significant number of outlying farmsteads and isolated houses on the northern edge of the town of Pierrecourt.
I knew I was expecting an attack from the north-west but where exactly it would arrive I wasn't sure. The German defenders were limited to a deployment area to the south and to the east edges of the table, and mainly to the north of the town.
The Forces Involved
The German force comprised a significant number of support weapons, including five medium machine gun teams! These were placed strategically in an arc focusing inward towards the likely American arrival points. All were hidden within buildings and therefore started the game on hidden Blinds. The Germans weren't sure of the size of the American force but certainly it had been suggested that they had found a way over the river Ribeaux by building their own bridge. I could therefore expect to see armour in plentiful supply.
To counter this the Germans had a couple of PaK 40 anti-tank guns and couple of StuG III assault guns. These were also placed so as to create overlapping arcs of fire and kill zones. The Germans also had two full platoons of infantry which were placed within the confines of the town, but a couple of elements in fortified houses towards the western edge of the town, should the Americans choose to come that way. This was particularly beneficial as an American flank attack of armoured infantry did just that.
The Game
As with most games we started with the pack including only the Tea Break and Blinds cards for both sides. The American attack quickly developed on the western edge of the table and soon they were adding cards to the stack on a fairly frequent basis. German confidence did not waver and they continued to watch as more Americans units arrived.
The Americans brought forward a couple of armoured infantry platoons with their support weapons into the bocage hedged enclosure on the western edge whereby they then set up shop proceeded to engage in a firefight with a machine gun holed up in protected building the western edge of the town, where their superior firepower began to show through.
The Germans had placed their Forward Observation Officer in one of the lofts of the houses on the northern edge of the town and he had his card activated fairly quickly to call in support from an offboard battery of 210 mm Nebelwerfers. However the Germans were unfortunate and made repeated low dice rolls, failing to bring in this much-needed support until towards the very end of the game. When it did arrive the accuracy was so erratic that the first range shots disappeared well over the western horizon and off the table.
In the meantime the Americans brought armour onto the table in the hedged enclosures on the south-western corner of the board and started to aggressively reconnoitre the isolated farmsteads in the southern part of the battlefield. That area the Germans had left particularly weakly defended as the numerous buildings in that area posed a significantly psychological threat, with their potential kill zones and overlapping fire fields. Indeed there are only two medium machine gun teams in that half of the battlefield and both remained on reserve dice until absolutely necessary. They only made their presence known late in the game.
On the north western edge of the board an American armoured infantry platoon dismounted and entered the town area rather cautiously. It was initially placed under a Blind, but quickly found itself uncovered due to the presence of another medium machine gun and a separate building housing a German infantry section. There ensued a couple of close combats. The medium machine gun coming off the worst of one, having to retreat into an adjacent property garden whilst the second American section was beaten off by the German infantry squad.
To add further discomfort the Americans were then at the mercy of an assault gun prowling in the western sector of the town. Direct high explosive rounds were fired, pinning the squad and leaving it vulnerable to further fire. Two of their colleagues 0.3 inch machine gun teams also suffered at the hands of the assault gun who continued to harass the remaining American elements on the edge of the town.
As American confidence grew one of their armoured platoons burst through the dense hedge row and made a dash for the centre of the table. As if by magic the German Blinds card appeared and exposed a PaK 40 anti-tank gun who immediately conducted a barrage of aimed and snapshots at the platoon, famously missing with all three. Once exposed the anti-tank gun was at the mercy of every American gun: very quickly it was eliminated.
Thinking the coast to be clear more American armour appeared in the centre/southern sector intent in making a sweeping left flank manoeuvre. Almost immediately a second anti-tank gun was activated which quickly saw the end of the two leading Sherman tanks, both of went up in flames after receiving the first hit. The American attack was slowing down.
With their left flank progressing slowly the Americans resorted to using their considerable mortar power to lay down a smoke barrage and prevent the Germans (if there were any) from assaulting them in the flank.
Offboard American artillery was a little more successful than the Germans, but most of their efforts were aimed at the buildings in the centre of the table and away from German troops who were hiding mainly in the town. The Germans continued to calling for their support fire but to no effect and many opportunity targets came and went without success. During this time the American force had the use of air power but on every occasion it too failed to appear.
This is one heck of a slog of a scenario and very quickly the Americans realised that with increasing losses to their armoured support, the town was not going to give in easily and certainly not without further support. With that in mind the game came to the conclusion and the umpire decided that the Americans had not secured significant portion of the battlefield and that the Germans still held their line.
In short the Germans had stopped the Americans once again.
Now its on to the next battle in the scenario order and perhaps another German counter-attack can be expected?
The battle for Normandy and particularly the race to Blenneville continues!
Tim Whitworth
