Operation Martlet - Pushing On

Tonight at the club, we continued out Chain of Command Campaign of Operation Martlet.

In this scenario, British troops attempt to push on through the sprawling village of Fontenay towards the German main line of defence. They must clear this position before they can progress further.

The Germans had 1 full squad, an LMG team with a Junior Leader, 2 German Grenadier Teams with Junior Leaders & the Pzr IV. Not a lot to hold with, so making the British bleed was paramount.

I was sitting on the opposite side of the table, thus reversing the orientation of my photos from the map above.

The British got 6 turns of Patrol movment & was able to lock down the German kick-off markers quite quickly.

I did manage to get 1 of the German Grenadier teams on early. They came under fire from the Churchill AVRE, as well as sniper & a squad firing from the building to the right.

After taking an ineffective hit from the Pzr IV, the Churchill goes off the road

The Grenadier team continues to take shock, eventually breaking & running towards the rear.

The Germans did have some luck however, as a small group of British troops was ambushed by another German Grenadier squad, which after killing 3 of the British, vanished. This was then followed up by an assault by the German Squad, killing the last British soldier in the building.

The German squad then withdrew behind the building out of sight of the British. The British continued to consolidate.

A British Rifle team managed to snag one of the German jump off points, however a German Grenadier Team arrived during a double phase for the Germans, they then rushed the British Rifle team & killed 4 of the British, with the loss of 2 of their own. The  remaining British withdrew.

It was at this stage that the German Commander took the opportunity to withdraw before losing any more of his troops. The British noses had been bloodied & the exhausted German Defenders needed a respite. Thus the Germans lost the field, however they remained generally intact. We await the results of the battle from Dave.