D Day - airborne landing practice

 

Before we begin our D Day campaign we decided it would be interesting to let the German players take the Allied side for some of the iconic games - the airborne landings and beach assaults. So this week the airborne landings with Merville Battery, the Orne River bridges and a factious US airborne attack on guns St Martin De Verreville. This later action could have happened, but the Germans evacuated rather than fight.

Mereville Battery

In this game 9th Parachute battalion attacked at night against defenders dug-in around the battery, with  reinforcements in a nearby village. 

Mereville Battery

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The Para's bum-rushed the German position and despite the Germans reinforcements arriving  very rapidly they were able to overrun the defenders and take the battery after some hard hand-to-hand fighting.

St Martin De Verreville

101st airborne attacked dug-in Germans dug-in around the village of St Martin.  They adopted a cautious approach looking to setup firing positions and blast the enemy.  

St Martin Battery

This steady approach limited their loses but allowed the German reinforcements time to get into the defences. The game ended with the  Screaming Eagles unable to capture the battery before day light.

Orne River Bridges

Perhaps the most famous action of the night with the Oxs & Buck light infantry launching a glider-borne Coup-de-Main whilst 7th Parachute battalion try to reach them before the German reinforcements.  

Pegasus Bridge

The troops initially stalled as they tried to fire at the canal defenders before finally attacking with flamethrower support. This proved devastating and the Germans fled, leaving the bridges in allowed hands.