This weekend I solo played Firestorm at St. Manvieu from BFP's Beyond the Beachhead 2 scenario pack. Wow!
Before I set things up, I pulled out John Keegan's Six Armies in Normandy and re-read his chapter on Operation Epsom. He noted that the close terrain of bocage lined lanes and compact Norman villages seriously constrained the 15th Scottish Division's ability to project it's offensive power and by the first afternoon units had become disorganized, reoriented towards distracting, immediate tasks rather than their objectives, or mired in lengthy traffic jams of tanks and other vehicles. With its tight Norman village, narrow lanes, stone buildings, and bocage lined fields, the scenario map really conveyed the difficulties of carrying out a combined arms operation in this kind of environment. It's always a pleasure when a scenario brings you into the moment and allows you to better understand the battlefield conditions. I'm not usually inclined to write AARs but this scenario deserves one.
The Brits approach was to swing most of the infantry force around the west side of the village, drive through the woods, and into the backfield to ensure the 12th SS wouldn't be able to keep the >6 building locations they need in order to hold on to victory. I also wanted to avoid the narrow streets on the west side of the village ( it looked like a tiny Stalingrad waiting to happen) and decided to keep my armor and its supporting infantry devoted to grinding down the east side, hopefully keeping the schoolboys occupied while the infantry swept in for the kill. Given the scenario is 7.5 turns, I felt like I had plenty of time to push into the backfield and then mop up. I couldn't have been more wrong.
The Germans set up three lines of defenses, the first of which would be along the east west road north of the village, the second in the village center, and the third just south of the cemetery. This was where I located the fortified buildings for a final stand. Hopefully reinforcements would arrive in time to save the day. Lastly, the 75L HIP AT gun and a 8-1 leader covered the main north- south road.
The major challenge for the British involved avoiding armored gridlock and keeping the infantry organized and moving towards their objectives. No big deal right? This proved easier said that done since the armor initially was constrained in a column along the north south road as it approached the village. The infantry were also broken up crossing the bocage, requiring reorganizing. The creeping barrage skipped the first German defensive line and despite forming massive fire groups the Brits wasted three turns dislodging three squads of 6-5-8s from stone buildings (an incident which had me flashback to an old CG of KGP II) before they could move across the east- west road in force and into the woods in turns 4 & 5. By this time it was too late to get into the backfield in force and I was only able to snatch a few cottages on the southeast side of town. The prevalence of panzerfausts among the 6-5-8s also kept the armor at bay. Two Cromwells were smoked at the crossroads north of the village, forcing the remaining armor to risk bog checks as they flanked over the hedgerows, which sucked up most of their movement. The 75L later killed a Crocodile and made the surviving tankers wary of the north-south road, essentially taking them out of the game given the few opportunities for safe bypass in the village. The SS finally started to crack on the east side once a Crocodile with escorting infantry immolated a few squads. However, the small assault force ran up against a 10-2 (no doubt a Leibstandarte veteran transferred into 12 SS) and squad with mmg in a fortified building. The Scots melted away to their rally positions leaving the tankers exposed. Overall the Brits rolled high on IFT and MCs, with roughly half of the 1st liners failing ELR. This, combined with terrain, ensured a German win.
For the Germans, the main threat, surprise, surprise, came from the creeping barrage. It caused the most casualties, as broken squads routed only to get hit again the next turn. The barrage also killed the German armor reinforcement before it could get into the action. At game end only two 6-5-8s, one 8-3-8 squad of pionieren, the 10-2, a 8-1, and 8-0 (7-0 Heat of Battle promotion) , the AT gun and the mmg remained standing out of an original OB of ten 6-5-8s and three 8-3-8s. It's been awhile since I played a scenario with a 6-5-8 OB and I got that feeling I usually get playing the IJA (relative invincibility) as I sent a few lone squads on limited counterattacks to keep the enemy off balance. Their audacity hung things up in the center and siphoned off squads from the main Brit assault force. The potential for PFs also forced unsupported armor in the east to withdraw. Kurt Meyer would have been proud.
This one really had it all- a creeping barrage hammering the defenders, survivors emerging from the smoking ruins not to defend but to attack a much larger force, sexy armored toys constrained by terrain, and an infantry assault that devolved into grinding house to house fighting. I highly recommend it- against two players it seems like it would make for a really tense match that tests everyone's resolve. Great map too and there appears to be a lot of replayability here. A fantastic scenario that really epitomized the grinding, tense nature of the Normandy fighting.