De Gaulle’s 4th Armored Division, called upon to eliminate the German bridgehead across the Somme at Abbeville, attacked on the 28th and succeeded in pushing the Germans back some four kilometers before halting for the night. The morale of the defending 57th Infantry Division was severely shaken by the failure of the 37mm anti-tank guns to make much of an impression on the French tanks. So, during the night, the Germans brought up artillery and AA guns to bolster their defenses. The French assault resumed just before dawn, approaching the hamlet of Villers-sur-Mareuil. . .
Attacker: French (2/24ème Bataillon de Chars de Combat and 5ème and 7ème Compagnies, 22ème Régiment d'Infanterie Coloniale with 46ème and 47ème BCC and 6ème Compagnie, 22ème RIC and 44ème BCC)
Defender: German (Kompanie 1, Infanterie-Regiment 179 and Batterie II, FlaKgruppe 64)
12 turns
Players: 2 OBA: Both Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:28.0 D:16.0
AFVs: A:14
B1-bis x 6 R35 x 8
AFVs: D:0
Guns: A:0
Mortier de 60 mle 35
D:3
8.8cm FlaK 18 3.7cm PaK 35/36 x 2 5cm leGrW 36 x 2 ATR 7.92 PzB 39
Misc Rules:
No AFV may enter a building or be voluntarily abandoned. BI-bis tanks may exit on/after Turn 9 .
Map Board(s):
12
16
19
Overlays:
NONE
Errata (source)
Players wanting to play this game/Request a match:
French gained majority Control of Level 2 buildings at end of Game Turn 8.
2023-04-08
(D) Dan Best
vs
Kermit Mullins
French win
2023-04-08
(A) Kermit Mullins
vs
Dan Best
French win
The French OBA managed to smoke the Germans in the Level 2 of the church for nearly 4 turns. This allowed a quick move to contact with minimal French breaks. The big tanks came into the game on Turn 4 and 2 were destroyed by the 88 before the 88 was MALF'd and then lost to dr 6 on the next repair attempt. The Germans were forced to fall back and then proceeded to lose two close combats and at the end of four turns had lost 4 squads. The French were going to get 6 locations in the next movement phase and then 6 more reinforcing squads. So after 5 full turns, the Germans conceded the game for a French win. The stack up of bad luck and French forces was too much for the Germans once the French got into the village with 12 tanks.
2022-05-03
(D) Chuck Dye
vs
kevinkilleen
German win
2021-02-02
(D) John Gorkowski
vs
Bill Stoppel
French win
This grudge fest features a French infantry-armor mass trudging forward through orchards and a graveyard against a torrent of fire from outnumbered, but well-equipped, Germans ensconced in a hamlet. The end result is a “numbers game” in which the huge French force steadily erodes, but also makes many low odds attack dice rolls, some of which will inevitably come up “lucky.” In other words, with so many rolls, you will witness multiple “rare” events, and we did.
French R35s approached the hamlet in three pairs, one from the east (19I10), one from the southeast (19A5), and one from the south (19A1). Two German 37mm ATGs fired from the orchards east of the hamlet (19N2 and T2) to shock one tank that later recovered. The one functioning east-side Renault fired main armament and scored an improbable critical hit (snake eyes followed by a subsequent 1) to kill one German ATG! The Germans kept firing. Mortars in the eastern orchard immobilized an east-side R35. The remaining 37mm swiveled to kill a southern R35 around 12FF5.
French infantry entered on turn two in two mobs, one along the east edge (around 19K10) with about six squads, MMGs, mortar, and radio, and the other along the south edge (19A1-5) with about 15 squads and LMGs. They kept to the vast blind zone created by the sprawling orchards. A German MG at the southern tip of the graveyard (12Y3) could see them, but broke early and had to flee north to the church (the three hex building just north of the graveyard). French Renaults failed their “radio-less” independent move checks and/or fired on distant German targets to no effect.
By turn three, French infantry started creeping up to the graveyard. MGs on the 2nd level of 12 R2 (the eastern high rise) and 12V4 (church overlooking the graveyard) started smacking French squads with rate. This went on for a few turns to gradually whittle down French manpower and confine the eastern force to the board edge woods (19O10) where German harassing fire (OBA) landed, but did little more than enforce desperation morale status. Isolated French tanks kept failing their move checks.
A French tank and infantry platoon made it into the graveyard. A nearby German 8-0 (12V2) successfully placed a satchel charge to brew up the R35 whose billowing smoke provided some cover for the French still closing on the yard. At about the same time, a French half squad among the tombstones spawned a hero who led his tiny force into the church (12V4) where they defeated three times their own number in close combat! The German spotter in 12S5 L2 brought OBA down on its preregistered hex at 12AA1 to smother a French rally point; dozens of frustrated Poilus gave up the fight as their broken squads crumbled to half squads or worse.
Around turn six came a company of behemoth Char B1-bis from the south (16GG1-GG5). The lone Renault around 12FF5 (who had earlier lost his partner to ATG fire and was since hiding behind a building) tried to lead their charge against the German 88mm FLAK on the church-side dirt road at 12V7, but MG fire from 12R2 L2 decapitated the CE commander to stop their stunt cold. Non-plussed, the B1s sailed across the landscape toward the mighty 88. The FLAK gun fired and hit with rate, but it was dud! The 88 fired again to brew up one of the B1s, but lost rate. The five surviving B1s pulled within a few hexes of the gun (12V9-X9 area) and stayed in motion as their only defense against its coming prep fire phase. On a lark, the nearest B1 tried an in-motion, advance fire phase, MA shot at the 88. Of course, the French scored another improbable critical hit to vaporize the 88 and its crew!
Soon after, those French heavies stormed the village firing relentlessly at adjacent Germans to invoke that scenario special rule calling for morale checks even on otherwise fruitless IFT attacks from adjacent tanks. Concealed Germans bobbed and weaved to avoid substantial hits while those unconcealed, and mostly on 2nd level, fired into advancing French infantry to slow them down. A blast of German artillery killed two tanks, one R35 and one B1, just outside the church. The pivotal 12R2 L2 HMG position broke and fled, but the leader soon returned on his own as a hero. Too bad he twice failed to recover the HMG as the French footmen closed in around him. Still, he did kill a French berserker (like I said, lots of rare events) with same-hex triple point blank fire before those that followed clocked him in close combat. Meanwhile, a German mortar did the French a favor by killing an immobilized B1, had it survived, stuck there on the battlefield, it would have upped the French VP location requirement.
In the end, the French captured 11 of 12 VP locations, just enough to win since they had not exited any B1s, four of six remained functioning on the board.
