Battle Report: Sword Beach D-Day: Luc-Sur-Mer

Battle Report: D-Day Sword Landings Part 1: Luc-Sur-Mer

Dawn broke on the 6th of June 1944. The German lines at Luc-Sur Mer had taken a beating from Allied bombers overnight. One of the multi-story buildings on the waterfront had been all but destroyed, but the Ost Truppen huddled in the trenches and the bunkers remained unscathed.

" Herr Leutnant! Englischer Schiffe!" The junior officer visibly paled when he brought his binoculars to his eyes. As far as he could see the horizon was packed with ships. The next moment naval shells screamed overhead.

 " Es fingt an..." -  It has started, he said. Here's to hoping these Ost Truppen will hold!

Luc-sur-Mer at Dawn 6 June 1944: German occupation troops dug in, 

88mm Bunker and 75mm Tank Turret to theright, at left, Pillbox HMG and LMG, 

rocket launcher battery and Pak 40s in fields beyond

The gamers rolled first for wild cards- the Luc-sur-Mer (LSM) sector of the board rolled improved skills for the Infantry: Went from reluctant trained to confident veteran, a useful roll. Allies rolled for extra armour support (+1 to rolls for armoured reinforcement landing)

Turn 1: The allies went first (as per the real battle): First a preliminary naval bombardment, which took out one of the Flak Vierling AA guns protecting the rocket launcher battery set in the fields beyond LSM.

The landing craft arrived, disgorging sappers on the beach, and calling in a flight of Hawker Typhoons. 3 aircraft made it to the area, and attacked the dug in troops in the trenches facing the beaches. The dug in Ost Truppen (now confident veterans) lost some platoons, but held, ready for the coming onslaught

The first British wave to land: Sappers of the 22nd Dragoons (3rd Inf Div)

Their task to destroy the beach defenses to allow the tanks to move into LSM

Germans returned fire, taking out the lead sapper command group with their machine-gun fire and fire from the trenches. The sappers were unlucky enough to be just within the range of the nebelwerfers, which then proceeded to unleash a hail of death upon them. The survivors of the first wave were pinned down on the beach, and failed to reach the minefields and tank barriers they were attempting to destroy, to allow the masses of tanks in LCTs approaching in the second wave of landings.

The Nebelwerfers dug in near the town's water supply unleash their deadly barrage on the beaches:

Ost Truppen and 88mm AA gun protecting their flank and frontal arc respectively

Turn 2: More sappers land and a flight of Typhoons deliver more death to the German trenches.

Well fortified and dug in, they survive the ordeal, but radio for AA support.

 Where is " Der verdamte Luftwaffe? "

Turn two saw some allied tanks make it to the beach- a unit of DD Sherman tanks. These waded out of the water before opening fire on the German emplacements. A heavy MG nest was taken out by this assault. The second wave of landing craft also deployed more sappers, who hurried up the beach, only to meet the same fate as those landed in the first wave.

These however had learned from their compatriots' misfortune, and stayed out of range of the rocket launchers. A single surviving troop of the first landing made it to the beach defenses, and started preparing the way for the next landing of tanks. The dug in static German Infantry, in trenches and buffed up to confident veterans withstood wave on wave of attack, with minimal casualties.

The Germans brought up a 37 mm AA gun mounted on a half-track to defend the infantry from the incessant harrasment by the RAF, only to find the fiendish pilots changing their flight path to avoid the German shells.

The 21st Panzer Army's Stug IIIs arrived from Caen, and moved towards LSM, to the cheers of the Heer artillery, who found that the clever Tommies stayed well out of reach of both the Nebelwerfers and LeFH18 fieldguns. The ruins of LSM also prevented the 88mm guns from drawing a bead on the tanks on the beach.

To relieved grins the 21. Pz Div started moving down the road towards the beaches. This time Allied Aircraft were intercepted on their way in, and did not arrive at the scene of the battle. More smiles from Herr Oberleutnant Rhyn von Rheenen zu Fischer, commanding the Panzer column:

Turn 3 saw the Allies land several more M4 Shermans from LCTs and also  2 Churchill AVRE bunker busters, as well as a Churchill VII onto LSM Beach.

 They made short shrift of the 88 mm Gun emplacement and the 75 tank turret bunker guarding the beach approaches. Both went up in flames. They also carefully stayed out of reach of the rocket launcher range. The Germans in their turn successfully brought up a platoon of reinforcement PzKfw IVs from the direction of Caen, and went hammer and tongs at double time to try and get to the beach head, but it was a very looooong way from the back of the board !

The deadly bunker-busting AVREs

Turn 4 saw the Allies still on the beach, though the beach defenses at LSM had now broken, all that stood between the allies were the trenches of the Ost Truppen of 716. Infanterie Division. Luckily these held, not withstanding another rocket attack by 2 typhoons, this time from the Lion sur Mer side of the beach, clearly to avoid the 37mm AA gun now parked near the trenches. The Allied commander landed more Shermans, and a unit of Wolverines at LSM, ready for the punch that would take them into the town, and beyond to the rocket launcher unit. All that stood between them and that objective was a thin grey line of dug in troops (in bullet proof cover), 3 PzKfw IVs, 2 Pak 40s, and 5 StuGs, who now seemed to be heading towards Ouistraham and the Orne River bridges.

Allied Armour about to crush the entrenched Germans, bunkers burning fiercely as shells start exploding in the German fortifications...but saved by the end of play. 

The sun set all to soon, with the Allies still on the Beaches, and the objectives still in German hands. Technically a victory for the Germans, as the Allies were still trapped on the beaches. Given another turn or two a totally different outcome may have transpired. Pity we had to vacate the hall. Things were just getting interesting...

Tune in again  for part 2 of our 3-part D-Day landing story: Lion-sur-Mer and Hermanville.

What did Herr General Oberst learn?
1. When you have artillery dug in to attack a beach, make sure that they are within reach !
2. We were limited in setting up our boards and terrain due to net getting access to the hall the previous night. The terrain was not entirely what I had planned or envisaged as a result, but it worked ok. We lost 2-3 hours' playing time, and couldn't finish our game due to the time constraints this causedt. The day went well though, despite all of this.
3. As an exhibition game it went well, giving several newcomers their first taste of wargaming, and for some a first time away from WH 40K:

Visiting 40K playes getting their first taste of FoW

photo: Roly Hermans (nicked off his great blog: Clicky)

Break-through on LSM Beach about to happen, tightly clustered armour from an inexperienced  gamer offering a tempting target for the old hands, also now within range of the Nebelwerfers, and 

3 PzKfw are about to come charging around the corner of the double-story holiday villa at right. 

And then the sun set. Drat!

Slogging on with D-Day preparation

Whoohoo... D-Day Prep: The Slog

I had no idea how much work a large-scale Sword Beach D-Day invasion would bring about. Effectively we are talking 3, well probably 4 games in one. Thankfully my family piled in at the weekend to help with prepping. A most welcome, even if unusual situation for my wife, who has up to now kept her distance from wargaming in any form other than logistical support. I was most grateful that she took up a paint roller in support yesterday!

The total board is 4.8 metres wide, 3 separate gaming boards, inter-connected:
Peter, Queen and Roger sectors as below



1600mm x 800mm :

The 2 x beach approaches at Luc-sur Mer and Lion/Hermanville-sur-Mer, and the harbour approach to Ouistreham. These are protected by bunkers, a turret bunker and MG posts.

Then 3 x 1600 x 1600 - the Villages as above and Ouistreham with the Casino and artillery observation bunker (German HQ), The Pegasus bridge over the Orne River and  the canal lock in the Orne canal; and Normandy pasture and fields beyond that.
In this is seated the Merville battery, field batteries and Wiederstandsnester (Resistance points) of the German occupiers.

Allies have unlimited supply of troops and equipment,  (have to be landed, though, on beach or by air, limited amount per turn) air superiority and Germans have to roll to see if things get any better than the actual events went for them. One in 3 chance of a "booby prize"
I.e. SS Reinforcements, Luftwaffe support, no command interference from Hitler, vs attack by Partisans, devastating artillery fire by allies, rebelling or collapsing Ost Truppen.

Typical Beach defenses, as found at Ohama and other landings

Allied Side

Player 1 (Allied, Roger sector)

• Conducts the Allied Airborne assault: Objectives- the two bridges, and the Merville Battery, secure route to Caen
• Troops at disposal: British Parachute Company - Objective Merville Battery, parachute drop
• British Airlanding Company -  Objective Pegasus Bridge, air landing by glider
• Commando Company (Inclusive of Free French)  - Objective Ouistreham, then link up with Airborne troops to hold bridges (lands in second wave of beach landings)
• Uses D-Day Minus 1 rule-set

Player 2 (Allied, Queen sector)

• Conducts seaborne landing: Objective take Luc-sur-Mer (Brit Infantry) and the German Headquarters at the Casino (Commandos, land in 2nd wave); overcome beach defenses and eliminate inland emplacements and defenses (Wiederstands nester); progress towards Caen
• Uses Festung Europa/Bloody Ohama rule-set

Player 3 (Allied, Peter sector)

• Conducts seaborne landing: Objective take Lion/Herman-sur-Mer (Brit Infantry) and overcome beach defenses and eliminate inland emplacements and defenses (Wiederstands nester); Progress towards Caen
• Uses Festung Europa/Bloody Ohama rule-set

Churchill AVRE: One of Hobart's "Funnies"

Allies have access to Hobart's funnies; Air superiority. Limitless supply of troops. Troops killed are placed back in reserve for next assault landing wave

Axis Side

Player 1 (Axis)

• Defends Ouistreham, Merville Battery, route to Caen
• Troops at disposal: German Infantry Merville Battery
• Pegasus Bridge, German Infantry, Artillery crews
• Divisional support, 21st SS Panzer Brigade in support
• Uses Festung Europa/Bloody Ohama rule-set

Hemmbalken - log ramps designed to overturn and rip out the bottoms of allied landing craft

Been building a few of these! Could have mines or metal teeth attached to them 

Player 2 (Axis)

• Defend Luc-sur-Mer (German Infantry) and the German Headquarters at the Casino; beach defenses and Inland emplacements and defenses (Wiederstands nester); guard route to Caen
• Troops at disposal: German Infantry
• Luftwaffe Artillery
• Ost Truppen (Soviet PoWs who swopped sides) - Latter units both reluctant trained
• Divisional support
• Uses Festung Europa/Bloody Ohama rule-set

Belgian Gate being put in position

Player 3 (Axis)

Tzechen Egel: Czech Hedgehogs in position

• Defend Luc-sur-Mer (German Infantry) and the road to Oustreham; beach defenses and Inland emplacements and defenses (Wiederstands nester); guard route to Caen
• Troops at disposal: German Infantry
• Luftwaffe Artillery (not keen on shooting at tanks)
• Ost Truppen (Soviet PoWs who swopped sides) - Latter units both reluctant trained
• Divisional support
• Uses Festung Europa/Bloody Ohama rule-set

German Reserves and Wild Cards:

21 Panzer Division

D-Day The quickening: AS51 Horsa lands on my Workbench

The Quickening: Airspeed 51 Horsa Glider arrives

Over the weekend I took some time to progress the landing zones for the D-Day games. At lunch-time I discovered that the Airspeed Horsa 51 glider for the airborne part of the game had arrived. Yay!

Transport for the 6th Airborne arrives

Progress Report:

The Playing Board:
The boards: The harbour of Ouistreham and the beaches at Luc-sur-Mer and Hermanville -sur-Mer have been created and painted,  the board depicting harbour, lock and canal,  rocky and sandy shores, deep and shallow water, the inter-tidal zone and the sea wall; as well as the villages and grassy hinterland.

Tank traps and concrete bunkers, hedgehogs and dragons teeth - all ready to roll

Buildings: The concrete blocks for much of the harbour and German  shore battery are made and painted. The buildings for most villages and the harbour installations are ready, or in the post.

 I still need to build the observation bunker at Riva Bella.
The Pegasus Bridge is under construction, and the canal bridge is ready.

Vehicles and planes
I have built two DUKWs and a Higgins Boat, as well as an LCT. Probably need another one of each at least. An RAF launch is half constructed.
The British armoured squadrons are ready to roll, as are the soft-skinned vehicles. Still need to attend to Hobart's Funnies- need 2 x ARVEs and Sherman Crabs

As for the German side- "Alles fertig und in ordnung!" (Ready and in order)

Sword Beach: D-Day Gaming: The History reviewed

Sword Beach Landings on D-day

I've been reading up on D-Day with regards the Sword Beach Landings. I have chosen this landing for our D-Day Commemorative game mainly because the bulk of my 20mm  infantry models are British, and I don't think I'll have enough time to  paint up my US troops. I have enough Airborne and commando models to include the airborne assault. My allied armour has been left without national and unit  identification markings on purpose, so that they can be used on the Eastern front and for US troops as well. I will have to build some Hobart's Funnnies, as I don't have neither Crab or Crocodiles nor AVREs. We will use FoW rules, as my models are based for this rule set.

Sword Beach
SWORD BEACH was the objective of 3rd (British) Infantry Division. They were to advance inland as far as Caen, and line up with British Airborne forces east of the Orne River/Caen Canal. The Orne River bridges had been seized in late at night on the 5th of June by a glider-borne reinforced company commanded by Maj. John Howard. As at the other beaches, British forces penetrated quite a ways inland after breaking the opposition at water's edge. Unfortunately, the objective of Caen was probably asking too much of a single infantry division, especially given the traffic jams and resistance encountered further inland.

1st Special Service (Commando) brigade commanded by Lord Lovat, linked up in the morning with Howard's force at Pegasus bridge on the British left. Fierce opposition from the 2lst Panzer and later the 12th SS Panzer division prevented the British from reaching Caen on the 6th. Indeed, Caen was not taken until late June.

The landing beach
Sword Beach occupied an 8-km stretch of the French coastline from Lion-sur-Mer on the west to the city of Ouistreham, at the mouth of the Orne River, on the east. The area had vacation homes and tourist hotels and restaurants located behind a seawall. It was 15 km) north of the city of Caen. All major roads in this area ran through Caen, and it was a key city to both the Allies and the Germans for transportation and maneuver purposes.

The Germans had fortified the area with relatively light defenses consisting of beach obstacles and fortified emplacements in the sand dunes. For the most part, however, the defense of the beach was anchored on 75-mm guns located at the coastal town of Merville, some 8 km  to the east across the Orne River estuary, and on bigger 155-mm guns located some 32 km east at Le Havre. A few miles inland from the beach were 88-mm guns capable of supporting the machine guns and mortars that were placed in the dunes and villas and that constituted the Germans’ first line of defense. There were also antitank ditches and mines as well as huge concrete walls blocking the streets of the towns. The German 716th Infantry Division—in particular, the 736th and 125th regiments—along with forces of the 21st Panzer Division were in the vicinity and were capable of participating in defensive or offensive operations. To the east, across the Dives River, lay the 711th Division.

Sword Beach lay in the area of landing beaches assigned to the British 2nd Army,commanded by LtGen Miles Dempsey. It was divided by Allied planners into four sectors named (from west to east) Oboe, Peter, Queen, and Roger. Elements of the South Lancashire Regiment were to assault Peter sector on the right, the Suffolk Regiment the centre in Queen sector, and the East Yorkshire Regiment Roger sector on the left. The objective of the 3rd Division was to push across Sword Beach and pass through Ouistreham to capture Caen and the important Carpiquet airfield nearby. Attached commandos, under Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, had the mission of fighting their way off the beach and pushing some 5 km (3 miles) inland toward the Orne River and Caen Canal bridges, where they were to link up with the airborne forces.

The invading forces landed at 0725 hours on D-Day and were greeted with moderate fire. They were able to put out suppressing fire, and by 0800 hours the fighting was mostly inland. By 1300 the commandos had achieved their most important objective: they had linked up with airborne troops at the bridges over the Orne waterways. On the right flank the British had been unable to link up with Canadian forces from Juno Beach, and at 1600 hours tank forces and mechanized infantry units from the 21st Panzer Division launched the only serious German counterattack of D-Day. The 192nd Panzer Grenadier Regiment actually reached the beach at 2000 hours, but the division’s 98 panzers were halted by antitank weapons, air strikes, and Allied tanks themselves. The counterattack was stopped.

At the end of the day, the British had landed 29,000 men and had taken 630 casualties. German casualties were much higher; many Germans had been taken prisoner. However, for the Allies the optimistic objectives of Caen and the Carpiquet aerodrome were still a long 5 km away.

 

Landings later in the day, once beach defences had been overcome - note the absence of helmets

Casualties and AVRE, and Wolverine, not Achilles, as first captioned, on the beach
 (Note lack of muzzle break, therefore not the 17-pounder gun, thanks for pointing that out Wingco Luddite!)

Difference between Wolverine and Achilles M10 Variants

Orne and Dives rivers air-assault zones
Paratroopers from the British 6th Airborne Division, Major General Richard Gale commanding, were to be landed at night onto the left flank of the Normandy Invasion area in order to help isolate the battlefield for the seaborne invasion force that was scheduled to land on nearby Sword Beach at dawn. The drop zones were labeled X, Y, N, K, and V. X and Y were glider landing zones near the two bridges over the Orne River and the Caen Canal. V was a glider landing zone near the Merville battery, and N and K were on the Ranville ridge separating the Orne and Dives rivers.

German forces in the area consisted of elements of the 716th Infantry Division. The dominant defensive position was the battery at Merville, with four guns of undetermined size fortified in hard casemates.

The objectives of the 6th Airborne were to seize, intact, the critical bridges over the Orne River and Caen Canal near the village of Bénouville, securing vital exit routes for the forces scheduled to land at Sword Beach; to destroy the bridges over the Dives River, thus denying the Germans a route to the invasion area from the east; to hold the dividing ridge between the Dives and the Orne from an expected German counterattack; and, finally, to destroy the Merville battery, which threatened Sword Beach with its big guns.

At 0016 hours on D-Day, gliders containing Company D, 2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, commanded by Major John Howard, touched down precisely on target at the bridges. Within 10 minutes and with the loss of only two men dead, the daring coup de main placed both bridges in Allied hands. Howard’s company thus became the first attackers of the Normandy Invasion on French soil and the first unit to achieve its objective on D-Day. The Caen Canal bridge was soon immortalized as Pegasus Bridge, named after the insignia of the 6th Airborne Division.

Pegasus Bridge

The silencing of the Merville battery fell to Lieutenant Colonel Terence Otway’s 9th Battalion. The 9th, however, had a bad drop, and the attack began with only 150 men of the 750-man force. The daring attack captured the battery at a cost of half the attacking force. The defending Germans paid a terrible price: only 22 men of the 200-man garrison were uninjured.

The rest of the 6th Airborne troopers continued to land throughout the night, although many were scattered. Nevertheless, small parties found one another and managed to destroy five bridges over the Dives.

By morning, as the invasion force rolled ashore on Sword Beach, the left flank of the area was indeed secure. By 1300 hours Howard’s glider troops at the bridges had connected with elements of Lord Lovat’s 1st Commando Brigade. As evening fell on June 6, the 6th Airborne was generally in place and had achieved its objectives.

Info from Encyclopaedia Brittannica and various internet sources. Happy to reference at request. No copyright infringement intended

New rattling of the sabre: The Koreas this time

More Sabre Rattling: US and South Korea conduct landing exercises

At first I thought these pictures were Photoshopped. (Anyway, that's what my mind screamed)

Looking all to much like the Flying Spagetti Monster, a bit of research showed the images to be genuine and  accurate, and I even uncovered a video (see link) of the joint US and South Korean military execise. The smoke rings/donuts are from smoke shells fired as part of the practice. Retouching may have gone a bit far on the 1st image. Photos from across the net, no copyright infringement intended. Happy to credit where it's due.

This looks only a wee bit fake. Sunlight lighting up the images, or Photoshop running riot?

Most likely due to over-saturation with yellow and sharpening of the images

More lifelike images from the opposite side

Video footage from the Guardian (Click link)

D-Day 's a'coming: Kapiti Wargames Club open day

70th Anniversary of the D-Day Landings

We are planning for this year's Kapiti Wargames Club open day in May. I thought it appropriate that we consider doing a D-Day Landing theme this year, being the 70th Anniversary of the event that turned the tide against the Germans in Europe (well, ok, on the Western Front)

 By this time the Battle of Kursk (clicky for last years battle report) had already happened, and the Germans were retreating on the Eastern Front, but still far from beaten.

I'm hoping the Kapiti FoW group will come to the party again, and put on another of their dazzling displays.

My own intent is to re-fight Sword Beach landings, mostly Queen sector, and poss Ouistreham. On looking at the maps of this area I discovered that there was 2 towns embroiled in the battle that carry my name and that of my son; Hermanville-sur-Mer and Luc-sur-Mer. I would appreciate it if anyone had more detailed maps of the German emplacements in this area, specifically the widerstandsnester (strong points).